Got a hankering for a Tamiya Lunchbox but can't help thinking I'd get more fun out of a buggy type thing. Mainly because the Lunchbox is meant to be a bit unstable and fairly easy to find the limits of.
Would I bet better off getting something like a Grasshopper? Or are there other options?
Budget £200 max inc all the radio gear. Ideally available local to the North East.
Get a Neo Fighter kit, better than the Grasshopper kit - modern chassis, lighter body, and about the same price. Although TBH the most fun was the build, driving it is definitely less interesting. If that's true for you then you might as well get a Lunchbox... It won't be as good to drive, but are you actually planning on racing it?
Most of the Tamiya kits are recreations of 80's classics. Good fun in the same way that buying a retro bike is now that you can afford it, but the performance will be miles off a modern equivalent.
Been a while since I was into RC cars, but I always ended up defaulting to Schumacher, which despite the name are very much English by origin. Still have an original late 90's Schumacher Bosscat somewhere in barely used condition!
I used to race 1/10 cars and 1/5 scale stuff. The best car I have now cost 50 and Is masses of fun.
Lost micro t cars are 1/36 and can be used around the house all the time.
Loads of company's do the micro scale house cars as they're accessible, cheap, fun, useable and and be played with everyday without fuss.
Most of the Tamiya kits are recreations of 80's classics.
Really? They have recreations (the Frog, Grasshopper etc) but the rest are more modern. Not for hardcore racers, I appreciate that, but modern kits are great for someone who just wants a well made kit to put together and have a laugh driving.
I wouldn't bother with Tamika. It's most nostalgic crap with high parts costs. Look at traxxis, losi, hpi, Schumacher instead
All I know about RC cars is that I really want one of these...
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No racing, not hugely fussed on performance. Just want something to build and arse around with. I have a nitro car that I need to get working but I've had to strip it down to free up the engine.
Schumacher is a bit spendy. Budget is what I have in cash in my wallet. Neo Fighter buggy looks good. I have a shop nearby that sells Tamiya among others so I am going to have a look tomorrow.
I bought the FTX Carnage for my lad for Christmas. It's awesome.
I bought one for me too so we could play together 😀
He's only 8 so I got the slower one. It knocks the socks of my old hornet I had as a kid. Here's the faster version
Will have to checkout some upgrades for his birthday I recon 😉
I've got a Neo Fighter and it was fairly cheap, fun to build, and fun to drive (especially when drunk 🙂 ). Better cars may be available, but TBH it was something I bought partly from nostalgia, partly because I wanted something reliable and relatively easy to build with my daughter, and it's been perfect for both.
I bought the brushless FTX Carnage for myself for Christmas as my son did not want one. First go today in not really a suitable place which led to numerous crashes. It's a lot of fun and very quick (for me) £200 all in.
Sounds like you'd like something retro, I'd think about a monster beetle or Blackfoot if your after Tamiya. These should cost around £130 for the kit with ESC and motor, then you just need to add battery and radio gear.
[url= http://www.sussex-model-centre.co.uk/shopexd.asp?id=48456 ][/url]
An absolute steal.
You want one of these, I've got one running brushless and lipo. Its properly rapid.I've done the Tamiya thing. They are painfully slow and old fashioned.
HPI E-Firestorm here with lipo for mucking about on common, dunes and beach for skids, jumps and out running dogs.
Just got a Tamiya Dark Impact for Xmas. Looks way more complex than the grasshopper that I had as a kid but apparently it's a really stable buggy to use
Buggys are generally the quickest and best handling for messing about on lots of different surfaces. I used to race then abit and something like an old Losi XX would be good fun and pretty sturdy.
I started off in RC cars with a Tamiya Mudblaster- loads of fun but a lot of very easily broken plastic suspension parts (it was a monster truck type thing).
Years later I got a nitro truck - think it was an HPI Rush. That thing was bonkers - it was classed as a stadium truck and it took so much abuse and was rapid. It could do massive drifts as it was rear wheel drive and a mate and I used to launch it off ramps at the local skate park. Hardly ever broke despite stupid things done with it.
If HPI make a similar electric truck these days then I'd go for something like that. I imagine electric motors and batteries have come on a lot since about 15+ years ago so are probably great now. I remember my Losi XX with a 13 double wound electric motor was really quick.
If HPI make a similar electric truck these days then I'd go for something like that.
They do and yes motors have come on a lot. The big beasts are kicking out 10hp now. Bonkers...
So I ended up getting a Tamiya Blackfoot. I'm also going to get the nitro car going that I have sat about but that is mainly for smooth surfaces so I might have a look at getting a buggy or stadium truck in the future.
I spent a few hrs yesterday building a tamiya rising fighter with the youngest lad - really good quality time but my goodness you forget how footery these builds are! We've spent a couple of hrs today racing it about - good fun!
HPI EFirestorm here as well. If you go electric, get a quick charger and loads of batteries.
5 mins from a 2000mAh battery that takes 6 hours to charge does not make for a happy 12 year old at Xmas.
Tamiya Egress FTW
Teethgrinder - that's why I went down the LiPo route, can't remember what the battery is, but 40 min on a charge. If it's the same as mine it will be LiPo ready, just some fiddly setting of the speed controller thing for battery management.
I bought a Neo Fighter last year.
Good little car although the rear springs are too soft so it drags it's rear end on the ground a bit.
Mine isn't brushless & I'm using (off the top of my head) a 3000mAh battery. I get around 20-25mins run time from it. Not really sure exactly, but it's definitely much better than I remember the run time being, but then the battery capacity is probably twice what it was & this is with an ESC, rather than one of those wasteful mechanical speed controllers.
Thos Losi Micro-T look stonking for £50-£60, always a bonus to have an upgrade path, plus 2.4ghz ready.
I've hankered after an HPI Baja 5b for at least 10 years now, have never felt like I have a 'spare' £600 to get the kit though..
