Dont have a clue about RC cars etc but have always been interested by them.

Got a budget of £150 to get us started (14 year old son too) and wondering if anyone on the site has any advice?

Cheers

Nee.

are you looking for nitro(petrol driven) or battery?

that the first choice

Battery I think as expect the petrol are a bit too complex and noisy?

Thanks for your response

Hi, stick with electric until your ready to advance, just decide off road or road, just remember that road needs flat surface so you may be limited to where it can be used, Indoors or outdoors In terms of circuit? I'm happy to help if you need some advice as I'm used to most types and places.

Darren

Don't forget to budget for a decent battery charger and several battery packs.

There's nothing worse than having your fun cut short by flat batteries.

It's probably worth doing some reaserch into what battery packs fit into which cars.

I used to build model boats so space wasn't to much of an issue and standardised what batteries I used.

Spend some time in a decent model shop, it's worth their time and effort to give you decent advice if it means that you become a regular customer spending your hard earned on new tyres, motors and even more batteries.

Whatever you decide to buy above all else have fun and remember that if the car is coming towards you and you want to turn it to the left (your right) you have to move the joystick to the left

I would try and find a car with a brushless motor you might need to stretch ur budget to around £200 tho have a look in eBay lots of good second hand ones there . Yeah and don't forget about decent lipo batteries

Go petrol far more fun something like XTM XT2 Buggy new about £260 but secondhand well could be in your budget easy and they are bullet proof.

Just find one thats had good owner with little use and abuse, you need all instructions and parts lists too.

Last but not least resist the temtation to run it in the street, model cars and curbs don't mix !

Have fun.

start with an electric kit would be my advice.

as said above, nitro cars are very noisy and will soon get on the tits of neighbours.

they can also be expensive to repair as they generally travel at much higher speed = bigger impact = more damage.

they are damn good fun though!

an off road buggy is probably best as it can be used on grass, dirt, other roughish surfaces and on tarmac which makes them the most versatile in terms of where you can use it.

if you want to build it yourself, Tamiya kits are a good starting point.

low cost spares and relatively easy to assemble for a beginner.

go spend a couple of hours in a good model shop and see what takes your fancy.

most of all ENJOY

Have a look and see if there are any clubs near you which can give you advice and you can see what others actually have.

I used to build these (from kits) and the build was time consuming to get it all right but worthwhile as it gave a good understanding of how it all worked. Battery is okay, it will give you a decent run but run time will be limited to the capacity of the battery. Petrol, not used, but presumably better life, just noisier and probably more expensive.

You need to make sure that you budget for all the bits you will need, the kits probably don't include the RC stuff or battery bits. As said before check out a decent model shop or try a local club, they will be more than happy to advise you.

Hi I'm heavily into radio controlled model car racing. I compete at national level and have been since the age of 11. I'm 41 now so have a little experience lol. I would suggest going for an electric off road buggy as a first model due to being able to run it on most surfaces. The Tamiya plastic model company produce excellent models and within your price range. If you google Time Tunnel Models you will be able to see the whole range and time tunnel offer an excellent free postal service and are the cheapest in the UK. The Tamiya Holiday Buggy would be a good starting kit. Easy to build and bodyshell requires no painting only the applying of Decals and would be an excellent weekend project with adult supervision. This model comes complete with a slightly smaller motor but is fully upgradable with tune up parts as and when more speed and performance is required. The instructions are in step by step pictorial format and are the easiest to follow of any manufacturer and it's very satisfying once you have completed your first model. Also by building and running radio controlled models you are also learning Electronics, Mechanics and Pneumatics. Feel free to ask any questions I'd be glad to help cheers Pete.

I started with build it yourself Tamiyas, then moved up to petrol.

The joy about the Tamiyas was that when something broke, you knew were it went as you put it there in the first place. Plus I got a lot of satisfaction knowing that I'd built it each time it ran and seemed to learn a fair amount in the process (was about your sons age).

My petrol ones have all been a lot slower to fix as I've had to try and work backwards with no prior knowledge. As much as the petrol ones are more fun, and capable, they are restricted in where you can use them (due to noise, and animals don't seem too fond of the sound), and they do cost more IME to keep going. Also nothing worse than getting everything ready to find your glowplug is dead and you've no spares left!

In short, I'd start with battery, then move up if it's something he/you enjoy enough.

Go electric its cheaper , tamiya , yokomo and Schumaker used to be the main brands , In Stafford there used to be a good club down at the GEC factory where they had on and offroad tracks i used to compete there in the 90s and am presuming its still going .

Min requirements to race 1 x fast charger , 3 battery packs(1 on car , 1 on charge , 1 cooling) 2 x motors , 3 different transmitter freq chips .

As you progress you will buy lots more equipment but the club members will advise .

Its great fun , i used to compete nationally onroad in saloons and used to travel all over the country to attend meetings , it cost me a fortune at that level but was a lot cheaper than the real thing .

Edited 29 January, 201214 yr by deecee

Thanks guys , that's given me a lot to look into! Electric is the way to go then and probably a buggy to start with. Hadnt realised all the ancillary bits you need to keep them on the move!

Will have a surf for Tamiya and see what brings!

Cheers

Nee

Iv just bought a new HPI Trophy 4.6 Truggy, alot of fun, but as above they cost a few more pounds to maintain, my glow plug has died after 3 weeks!

Also £17 of fuel has done done me around 12 tanks which last roughly 10 minutes each,

Id get a decent tamiya as said above, build it up, learn about the car, If you enjoy it you can take it from there...

Rich

There are quite a few on ebay, if you get them used you sometimes get all the ancillaries and tuneups as well

I've got a HPI Evo 3 nitro powered Impreza. Brilliant fun, but having not used it for a couple of years I now can't get it to start. Going to have to take it into a model shop, get it serviced and then start again! The nitro models are stupidly fast and sound awesome when they change gear!! Oooo I want to play now!!!

Thanks guys , that's given me a lot to look into! Electric is the way to go then and probably a buggy to start with. Hadnt realised all the ancillary bits you need to keep them on the move!

Will have a surf for Tamiya and see what brings!

Cheers

Nee

Good choice.

Another big + of electric cars, they have reverse, sounds daft but saves you chasing after it every time it gets in a corner or stuck against a kerb or such.

If you can go for the steering wheel - trigger type RC controller, better than twin sticks IMHO.

I've had a few RC cars in past,

As said above start with a battery powered one as a first car as the nitro ones came be more probamatic

As a few above i had 3 tamiya's, started with a buggy type one then got a monster truck then got a 4wd old celica rally car with full roller bearing and a big motor in it,

Never had problems getting parts for them and usually had them running again within a week, then i got a kyosho nitro buggy and it just used to break everytime i took it out and really struggled to gets parts for it

Tamiya FTW - check out the website, you'll find lots of 1/10 and 1/12 scale cars from Mini Coopers to Porsche's etc.

Mini Cooper is £100 ish + battery £30 + Radio £60 = £200 ish.

Some deals to be had with local hobby shops.

If you can afford it buy an RC tank, I had two - a Tiger I and Sherman! Not cheap at £600 - £1000 each plus batteries and radio for each one though...

Tamiya FTW - check out the website, you'll find lots of 1/10 and 1/12 scale cars from Mini Coopers to Porsche's etc.

Mini Cooper is £100 ish + battery £30 + Radio £60 = £200 ish.

Some deals to be had with local hobby shops.

If you can afford it buy an RC tank, I had two - a Tiger I and Sherman! Not cheap at £600 - £1000 each plus batteries and radio for each one though...

That is not a Gentlemanly way to win races

Off to a couple of local RC shops that I wasnt aware of. Have done a little research and taken onboard advice by the many replies so should be able to bring one back today!

Cheers!

Pm,d

Make sure you charge main battery before you start building model. As when it's time for servo installation you will need power to centralise steering servo prior to fitment.

And you came back with...?

And you came back with...?

HIT LIST:

'Sand Viper' 58374 .

Acoms Techniplus 27MHZ Two Stick Radio

AC DC Delta 3 3 Amp Peak Detect Charger

3000 Mah 7.2v Battery X 2

TEU101BK ESC

Unsure of bearing upgrade kit at the moment but will have decided by the weekend

(yep...budget blown ).

Thanks folks!