Rc cars

okay. i just read a guide on here about rc cars that was kinda crappy so here goes.... ive run both nitro and electric.

ELECTRIC

most electrics are 1:10th scale cars, powered by a 540 size motor and a 6 cell nicad or nimh battery packs. What your looking for in an electric is an ESC firstly rather than an MSC and esc is an electronic speed controller, you get a smoother adjustment to the throttle. theyre more reliable. they last longer. whereas an msc you dont usually get more than 3 or 4 settings, they can burn out and are generally old news. Other things your looking for are oil filled shocks - this is a big one as the car wont drive like a pogo stick on wheels. the rest is realy up to you.... onroad cars have quick acceleration, high speeds and look like the cars you would see on a racetrack or on the roads. Offroad have big tyres, squishy suspension and the ability to go just about anywhere! personally i find offroad a lot more fun. if your looking for an offroad electric i would reccomend the evader BX - i own one myself.... 25mph top speed VERY rapid, sharp handling, very forgiving....a real drivers car! plus as standard equipment you get a souped up motor, an ESC, threaded aluminum shocks (this makes a lot of difference if your planning to race), adjustable turnbuckles (again very important if you want to race). I added a 30 trinity co27 motor to mine and its currently running faster than my nitro rush evo.... The evader is also pretty good on the track to start with. All in all its a solid car and one that i personally love and would reccomend wholeheartedly to anyone. i picked mine up second hand for 45 quid so theyre very cheap indeed. Other buggies you may want to consider would be the associated B4 (one of the very if not THE best 2wd buggy around) i forgot to mention: there are 2wd and 4wd buggies...the difference being (other than the obvious) 4wds are more expensive, more complicated and handle a lot better and are easier to drive than 2wd. 2wd are cheaper, good fun if your not going to race as you can do little tricks like doughnuts, and driftingthem round corners sideways....but not as fast on the racetrack, and take a lot more driver skill not to spin out. however, a 2wd is probbably better for the beginner as you will learn throttle control better and heck, its generally more fun! Onroad the solid pick would be the associated TC3/TC4. i would personally avoid tamiya cars as they normally dont have the oil filled shocks and normally have MSC's. spend that little extra and get a TC3 :)

Batteries wise your going to want GP3300 cells - i buy them on here at about 10-12 a pack as they will give you longer and more consistant runs...id swear by them. Then as for a charger what you need to look at is the ampage it charges at (it affects how long its going to take your batteries to charge) Id reccomend something about 4 amps or more...make SURE it can charge Nicad and Nimh cells - the GP3300's are nimh and also make sure it is a PEAK charger. a peak charger charges the battery to the maximum and turns off rather than a non peakwhich charges....and charges....and charges untill the batteries blow up! ive made that mistake once. it wasent pretty and it cost a lot. I use a duratrax pirannah charger i bought on here for about 20. your batteries and charger are going to be the most expensive bit. spending the bit extra now could save you money in upgrades in 4 months time when you feel you want to race tho...

initial set up costs are high....but once you have the kit theres no 50 odd quid engine rebuild bills and 40 a month in fuel asyou get with nitro. they are easier for a beginner...and a helluva lot of fun for the experts.

NITRO

Nitro cars smell more realistic, sound more realistic, are more complicated, harder to run, less reliable and MUCH more expensive to run than an electric. They are insanely fast...even the basic models reaching speeds of 40mph and more. again you get onroad offroad, 2wd and 4wd for the offroad.same as before with the driveability, looks etc. to start in nitro you will need a glostart(15),****a starter boxis only neededif the car doesent have a pullstart and cost about 40 or more***glow wrench(5-15), glow fuel (15 for 2.5 litres)(% nitro depends on the engine). glow fuel nitro content is a case of how long you want your engine to live. a .12 .15 or .18 shoulnt be run on more than 20% and run just nicely on 16% (id reccomend tornado 16) ive seen a perfectly healthy 12 engine die in one day after running 25% fuel in it... a .21 engine wants 25-30% nitro and bigger engines will use the same. offroad good choices would be: 2wd- rush evo (my first rc car - great but the maintinance cost way too much.) the mt2 - a 4wd version of the rush and if you want a monster truck the hpi savages or traxxas t-maxx or revo. onroad...the NTC3 or Hpi Rs4 3 evo - the tc3 is going to be better if your gonna race it, if your not then go for the rs4 as parts are more easily availible.

So overall the initial setup costs for nitro are cheaper...the cars are more expensive, the maininance is VERY expenisve ( youll probbably need a new piston and liner kit at least once a year at a cost of 50...sometimes more for better engines) pullstarts break at a cost of 20. my rush evo cost me so much money in maintinance i had to give her up...she now sits in a box in bits where i caniballised parts for my electric. If you have the money to pay for the upkeep of a nitro then by all means they are amazingly good fun! but definately not for beginners, or older kids who cant afford 30+ in maintiance a week.

Hopefully the guide has helped you, if you want more information hit google and try searching for the brca, hpi racing, team associated, traxxas, or rc car action

if you have any problems or questions then e-mail pyromaniac_yeti @ hotmail.co.uk (without the spaces, it wont let me add my email to this otherwise) and ill do my best to answer them

Iain

by the way.. was just sitting here and something else occured to me: SPARES. make sure your hobby shop, or one near it can get you parts easily, or have a mail order supplier that always stocks parts for your car.... i went through hell on earth trying to find some evader wheels...two months of searching!! (stick associated B4 front wheels on it. no matter what the shop says they WILL fit an evader)