RC Car Recommendation?

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roadrunnerh

roadrunnerh

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Hey Folks, I plan on buying my boy (who turns 7) a remote control car for his birthday. Does anyone on here have any experience with these? Any cars you would recommend?
 
Yep, at 7 years old i'd recommend pre built ones made by new bright. I see em at walmart. They had a huge grave digger truck i would have wanted for myself. It was done up so nice i would have shelf displayed it. The new bright cars n trucks are fully proportional. This means they have Fwd, reverse, and left and right in both directions. They also come with rechargable nicads for the motor, have nicely detailed bodies, and are pretty inexpensive. They are also probably fast enough for his age and reflexes.

As he gets older if he decides he wants to get into the better ones, these would be kit built stuff. Heres where it gets expensive. $100 for an inexpensive roller kit R/C car minus 2 channel radio and battery pack with charger is the norm. Then add basic 2 channel radio, batteries, charger etc and your looking at about $250 easy, and thats for a basic funnin around R/C kit. For these kit build cars i'd recommend electric powered instead of gas powered. Tamiya model co. makes very nice easy to assemble R/C kits. These id recommend when he is about 11 or 12.

My first R/C build kit by Tamiya was called The Hornet. It was a 1/10 buggy with an RS 540 motor, easy to assemble, pretty rugged, fast and fun. They reissued this kit again because of its popularity, and ease of construction.

This hobby is addictive. You may end up with one for yourself too so you can have fun with your son. If you have access to tennis courts, these make the best surface for on road cars IMHO. Off road stuff needs no explanation.

Hope this helps
Matt
 
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Glad i could help you out. I messed with these a lot when i was younger. I gave my Tamiya rough rider buggy to my brother years ago, when i was getting out of the hobby.

Recently when he was going thru all his old RC stuff he found it. By this time, this thing was pretty much a stripped out chassis. He boxed it up and sent it to me as a surprise with a note saying "its yours" and something to the effect of "Matt you will know what to do with it".

Tamiya had reissued this kit, so i was able to buy all the pieces to restore it to new condition including a new OEM body.

I keep it in my shop on a shelf, and run it around once in awhile and my 3 year old boy chases it trying to catch it. Its nice to still have it as its something i worked hard for as a kid to buy. Then i built, and over time modded the hell out of it back then and raced it in R/C offroad buggy classes pretty competitively until the AWD cars came out.

At 15 years old i was done. I had a 68 charger in my folks garage, and my attention turned to real cars after that.

I bought my rough rider buggy kit in 1981 so WOW thats a long time ago to still have it after all these years. Thanks for returning it Mark. I love ya bro.

Matt
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Yep, at 7 years old i'd recommend pre built ones made by new bright. I see em at walmart. They had a huge grave digger truck i would have wanted for myself. It was done up so nice i would have shelf displayed it. The new bright cars n trucks are fully proportional. This means they have Fwd, reverse, and left and right in both directions. They also come with rechargable nicads for the motor, have nicely detailed bodies, and are pretty inexpensive. They are also probably fast enough for his age and reflexes.

As he gets older if he decides he wants to get into the better ones, these would be kit built stuff. Heres where it gets expensive. $100 for an inexpensive roller kit R/C car minus 2 channel radio and battery pack with charger is the norm. Then add basic 2 channel radio, batteries, charger etc and your looking at about $250 easy, and thats for a basic funnin around R/C kit. For these kit build cars i'd recommend electric powered instead of gas powered. Tamiya model co. makes very nice easy to assemble R/C kits. These id recommend when he is about 11 or 12.

My first R/C build kit by Tamiya was called The Hornet. It was a 1/10 buggy with an RS 540 motor, easy to assemble, pretty rugged, fast and fun. They reissued this kit again because of its popularity, and ease of construction.

This hobby is addictive. You may end up with one for yourself too so you can have fun with your son. If you have access to tennis courts, these make the best surface for on road cars IMHO. Off road stuff needs no explanation.

Hope this helps
Matt
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Totally agree with your advice! It brought a trip down memory lane though as I got into the hobby years ago after my older brother bought the Tamiya Grasshopper. He then upgraded it to the oil filled shocks the Hornet came with and ditched the RS380 motor for a Kyosho 480 Gold motor. That thing screamed. I bought a Hornet a few years later and then the Tamiya Thundershot. They were fun cars to play with. My parents kept all the RC cars when my brother and were interested in the real thing and they sat in their attic. When my parents moved into a condo last year my brother and I brought the cars back with us and we'll bust them out when our kids are a little older. It's good to see Tamiya is re-releasing all the classics as they bank on us wanting our kids to have some neat toys instead of an iPad/computer games. I was also into the Tyco/AFX slot cars and my parents kept all that stuff too. It was really neat going through the cars, track pieces (cliff hanger, etc) and making a circuit to test it out after all these years. When my 6 year old is ready in a year or two I'll be racing the slot cars with him before graduating to the Tamiya RC cars!
 
H22A4 said:
Totally agree with your advice! It brought a trip down memory lane though as I got into the hobby years ago after my older brother bought the Tamiya Grasshopper. He then upgraded it to the oil filled shocks the Hornet came with and ditched the RS380 motor for a Kyosho 480 Gold motor. That thing screamed. I bought a Hornet a few years later and then the Tamiya Thundershot. They were fun cars to play with. My parents kept all the RC cars when my brother and were interested in the real thing and they sat in their attic. When my parents moved into a condo last year my brother and I brought the cars back with us and we'll bust them out when our kids are a little older. It's good to see Tamiya is re-releasing all the classics as they bank on us wanting our kids to have some neat toys instead of an iPad/computer games. I was also into the Tyco/AFX slot cars and my parents kept all that stuff too. It was really neat going through the cars, track pieces (cliff hanger, etc) and making a circuit to test it out after all these years. When my 6 year old is ready in a year or two I'll be racing the slot cars with him before graduating to the Tamiya RC cars!
Click to expand...

Yep i pulled out the HO slot cars a couple years back and built the dream layout i always wanted as a kid. I was hosting races with friends on friday nights, even hooked up an old Dell desktop for a lap counter / race timer. The old aurora afx i restored to running condition, but the new super G plus, Tomy SRT, and Mega G 1.5, and 1.7 cars will spank the old pancake motor stuff badly. I even wired my new track up with 4 independent 26V power supplies, and dynamic braking. My little boy is only a year and a half old in the pic. He is holding my black n red tomy SRT dodge daytona.

Round 2 is now making the old pancake motored stuff, and makes nice bodies that fit old afx, and the new tomy afx.

I stopped doing the races as my middle 2 kids would come into the garage wanting to play too. I had good intentions they each had a car i bought them. It always devolved into an argument about cheating, and other assorted sundries. The end was when one of em threw one of my parma controllers at the other. I figure by the time my boy is old enough to play with these with me, my older kids wont want to be bothered. It sucks my middle 2 kids are such a buzz kill to each other and us, but the only thing i can do because of this is to put it away for now. It folds up into the wall for storage.

Matt

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Pix of Rough rider buggy restored. When i originally built it, i used the oillite bronse bushings that came in the kit back then, as the ball bearings were so expensive for these. When i did the rebuild, i split the gearcase, and replaced all of them with the ball bearing races. The rough rider did not have an open rear with spiders. It was a locker, so rooster tail burnouts on dirt are always fun. I have not decaled the body yet. It came pre painted gold. I need to scuff n shoot it orange to put the Ron Mitchell Racing livery on it, and even though its got torsion bar rear suspension holding the *** end up, i still need a set of rear shocks for it. The originals got cannibalized years ago for other projects. Like all projects i have its never quite finished. I did update and get rid of the servo operated wiper arm speed controller it used to have, and bought Tamiyas new solid state speed controller box. Super tiny. Saves a lot of space.

Matt

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Rainy Day Auto said:
i like Nikko brand for in-expensive pre-built ones.

I got a Nikko 71 dodge Super bee for Christmas last year and I have found it quite entertaining. ( I am a kid trapped in an adult body)

RADIO CONTROL TOYS | NIKKO 1/16 RC CAR 1971 DODGE SUPER BEE |
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Now thats pretty slick. Tell you what though Ranigirl, if that keeps you entertained, then the 1/10th and 1/12th scale you assemble model R/Cs would be total nirvana for you. The speeds are freakin awesome, and the offroad cars, my old off road buggy has 1.5" of suspension travel. The off road buggys are a blast.

We also used to race indoors on carpeting in the winter time. I had a 1/12th team associated RC12L on road suspension car. This was straight up nascar style road racing. 4 cell packs, and sealed motors, coupe bodies were the rules.
 
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moparmat2000 said:
Pix of Rough rider buggy restored. When i originally built it, i used the oillite bronse bushings that came in the kit back then, as the ball bearings were so expensive for these. When i did the rebuild, i split the gearcase, and replaced all of them with the ball bearing races. The rough rider did not have an open rear with spiders. It was a locker, so rooster tail burnouts on dirt are always fun. I have not decaled the body yet. It came pre painted gold. I need to scuff n shoot it orange to put the Ron Mitchell Racing livery on it, and even though its got torsion bar rear suspension holding the *** end up, i still need a set of rear shocks for it. The originals got cannibalized years ago for other projects. Like all projects i have its never quite finished. I did update and get rid of the servo operated wiper arm speed controller it used to have, and bought Tamiyas new solid state speed controller box. Super tiny. Saves a lot of space.

Matt

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View attachment 1714930898

View attachment 1714930920
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Sweet ride! I still have some of the mid 1980's Tamiya R/C catalogs which show their lineup. The technology they designed into scale cars was pretty cool considering it was 30+ years ago! I'm going to have to make a trip down to the basement closet to fish out my Hornet and Thundershot now!! Yes, the ESC upgrade was big as it eliminated the the chance of the wiper arm getting stuck one way (from dirt or low batteries) and got rid of that 4 pack of AA batteries in the car!
 
moparmat2000 said:
Yep i pulled out the HO slot cars a couple years back and built the dream layout i always wanted as a kid. I was hosting races with friends on friday nights, even hooked up an old Dell desktop for a lap counter / race timer. The old aurora afx i restored to running condition, but the new super G plus, Tomy SRT, and Mega G 1.5, and 1.7 cars will spank the old pancake motor stuff badly. I even wired my new track up with 4 independent 26V power supplies, and dynamic braking. My little boy is only a year and a half old in the pic. He is holding my black n red tomy SRT dodge daytona.

Round 2 is now making the old pancake motored stuff, and makes nice bodies that fit old afx, and the new tomy afx.

I stopped doing the races as my middle 2 kids would come into the garage wanting to play too. I had good intentions they each had a car i bought them. It always devolved into an argument about cheating, and other assorted sundries. The end was when one of em threw one of my parma controllers at the other. I figure by the time my boy is old enough to play with these with me, my older kids wont want to be bothered. It sucks my middle 2 kids are such a buzz kill to each other and us, but the only thing i can do because of this is to put it away for now. It folds up into the wall for storage.

Matt

View attachment 1714930857

View attachment 1714930858
Click to expand...

That's a sweet layout! My 5 year old son caught me playing with quick oval I set up to test the cars after 20+ yrs of storage when I brought the setup back last year. Most of mine are 440x2 but I have a couple of the aurora afx cars (the police car with lights was my favorite car back in the day even though it wasn't the fastest). Little cars racing around on a track blew his mind so I know he's going to be keen to play with it. It will be interesting to see what/any interest my 4 year old daughter has. I've purchased a couple of additional power supplies and will modify the power track terminal so each controller has it's own supply to prevent one speeding up when the other car flies off.
 
H22A4 said:
That's a sweet layout! My 5 year old son caught me playing with quick oval I set up to test the cars after 20+ yrs of storage when I brought the setup back last year. Most of mine are 440x2 but I have a couple of the aurora afx cars (the police car with lights was my favorite car back in the day even though it wasn't the fastest). Little cars racing around on a track blew his mind so I know he's going to be keen to play with it. It will be interesting to see what/any interest my 4 year old daughter has. I've purchased a couple of additional power supplies and will modify the power track terminal so each controller has it's own supply to prevent one speeding up when the other car flies off.
Click to expand...

Thanks 4 the kudos on the layout, and on my restored rough rider buggy. About the track, Its a sectional layout i made with new Tomy AFX tracks. Lots more options trackwise now than i have ever seen. It took me roughly 2 years to build. I soldered all the track joints together and glued them with solvent adhesive, then countersunk the plastic screwed em down with small countersunk screws. I then moulded everything together and painted it with grey autobody laquer primer. Moulding the track together, and sanding the plastic so it appears as one piece was the hardest, especially since we were racing on it every week on friday nights. I would just work on a few sections at a time.

The tracks power is tapped via soldering wires from the underside. Just like your doing with the power supplies with power surge is why i run four 26V power supplies each for its own lane

if you look closely you can see that i widened the outer lanes in the turns approx 3/4" so you cant hug the guard rail on the outside lane. I used n scale model railbed cork where the "grass" meets the track so the grass bumps up to be level with the track. Its spray glued springtime green felt. The magnum 440x2 cars are now hotwheels brand, and virtually unchanged from the 80s. Tyco sold it all out to mattel.

I have bought .004" thick sheet brass at hobby lobby, and i make little rectangles out of it, and solder it to the pick up shoes when they wear thru. Kinda like relining them. Its best to remove them from the car, tin the shoe, and clamp the piece of brass to the shoe w an alligator clamp, then heat it up, and they flow together.

On the tamiya ESC yep its freakin tiny. I bought a futaba wheel n trigger magnum radio for my rough rider when i restored it. Glad this thread got ya thinking about getting out all the toys. Before you start playing with your slot cars you may want to check values on this stuff. I have a lot of old AFX from the 70s. They are no longer toys anymore. I dont play with them too valuable now. This is why i use the Tomy SRT chassis, and the good thing is that american line, johnny lightning, and round 2 make pretty good repops of all those classic bodies. These are only a couple dollars so you dont mind chopping em up with an xacto knife to make em more competitive.

Check out www.slotcarcentral.com
Www.budshocars.com for parts and cars

Check out www.hoslotcarracing.com for other ideas including trakmate computer freeware for a lap timer.

Also i am a member of www.HOSlotRacer.com. lots of guys all over the world building really awesome layouts on there
 
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While at one of the hobby shops I visited, there was a guy with a nitro powered RC car with a '69 Charged thin plastic body. It looked super cool and he claimed it runs up to 90mph!
 
Sounds nice, post pix. I guarantee your gonna want one to play with too. These things are addicting.
 
Sounds nice, post pix. I guarantee your gonna want one to play with too. These things are addicting.
 
Lexan bodies are the best. Light, and flexible. Painted on the inside they always look good. They require special paint that sticks to them though.
 
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