Set ups, tips, tricks, whatever you got...... Please!
 

Hi All,

As a newbie I think its polite to tell you who I am first of all..... I am Richard, Im in my late 20's with a long standing interest in RC Cars and racing. I used to race (if you can call it that) when I was about 10 years old but became disgruntled and then discovered girls and booze a few years later so took my eye off the ball for a while but am looking to get back into the scene now in a big way.

When I raced before it was only on a schoolboys pocket money budget so I was pretty hopeless. I could drive, but I was driving my Tamiya Madcap with stock everything against men and other kids who were bankrolled by the dads so it was my Madcap against modified Losi XX's and such like. After a year or two of this and trailing home near the rear week in week out I drfited away from the game.

Recently I have rediscovered my love for the game and have been investing in getting back into the scene. During this time I have spent hours, days, maybe even weeks on the net trying to pick up views and tips. That is how I discovered this forum, and what a forum. It is by far and away the best forum I have discovered for all things RC Car related! A big pat on the back to all involved!!

So what I have spent my money on so far....

Well I went to my nearest serious RC shop which is not that near at 33 miles away (many seem to have disappeared since I was first involved sadly ) I must have been a sales guys dream. I basically walked in with a blank page and an open mind looking for guidance.

As the guys there were all big on Kyosho that is the way they steered me and I chose 2wd electric as my weapon of choice.

So I purchased (forgive me forgetting the exact model numbers in some cases but I dont have them to hand to list just now) :

Kyosho Rb5 Sp2
Spektrum DX3E handset
Orca 7.5t brushless motor
Fusion Exceed ESC
Savox steering servo
Bionic 5000 40c LiPo batteries

What do you think to this set up? As I said, it was largely purchased on the advice of the guy in the shop who led me through the purchase.

I took it back to the same shop yesterday to get some assistance with the soldering and I saw a different guy who advised me to turn it down as it would likely be too fast and end up planted through a wall....

So what I am looking for is advice and tips with things such as set ups and tuning / modifications. When I raced before as a 10 year old I just turned up and raced, there was no consideration given to set ups and such like so this aspect is all new to me. It is something I want to learn and fully understand though to give myself the best chance of succeeding so anything you can tell me will be gratefully received!

I apologise if you have seen threads like this millions of times before but I just thought it would be easier for me to find everything if it is on one new thread.

Many Thanks in advance!!!

Richard

Hi,

I'm at work so I can't really spend to much time on the thread but my advice would be for you to bring all your gear to the moto arena on a Tuesday night and speak to people down there.

You can also race, people arrive at about 6-6.30 ish.

I don't know alot about the ESC but the rest of the stuff you've bought seems good.

Hi yah Richard
Firstly if you are a total novice you may need to tone that power down some what! The equipemnt you have is close to winning a world championship in the right hands - LOL.
You need to decide where you are going to race the car and then we can give you some advice in setting it up right so it's giving you the most enjoyment.
The car you have is a great car and many will tell you this and that and the other but my plain advice for now is very simple.
When you can achieve a whole races, round different circuits, and you make no errors, then you can think about power and so on.
Till then you have nice equipment so go out there and enjoy.

Run yellow wheels

Thanks for the replies all. You know what, that is good advice. Out if being eager I just want to get out there and be winning races. But it makes sense what you say, I need to just get out there and get used to the car first, drive in a few races with standard set ups and just get a feel for it.

Matt, from your post I'm guessing you work at Moto arena? If so then we have already met! I was in yesterday and you helped with soldering in the ESC and are spraying my shell for me.... I am planning on getting down there on a tuesday but was just looking on getting some set up advice beforehand as I didnt want to be bothering people there that I had only just met. Seeing as Moto Arena is going to be my main track for racing on then if you have any specific set up advice then it would be gratefully received!

One other thing, when I finished the build last night I went to charge the batteries and noticed that the charging adapter that plugs into the batteries doesn't fit the charger so I am going to need another adaptor. Is this something you will have in stock? If so then I will pick one up on Sunday when I collect the shell.

That's a different Matt, I know the Matt you mean. You also have the club down by the rugby club in Silverstone which is also run by the same people who run the tuesday meetings.

I think the cells have a deans connector (a red one) whilst charger may have a tamiya connector. I sure it's an easy fix, I would just solder the correct one on.

For now leave the kit set up on the car and just put the correct tyres on, schumacher yellow minipins on the rear with stagger ribs on the front are a good starting point and will get better after a few runs.
But the best thing to do is have a word with the regular racers and get one of us to slow your car down a bit for your first few runs, it's easier and cheaper to speed it back up than fix it after you've made a mistake, and if you hit something at full speed with 7.5 motor the chances are it will need fixing.

I'd put yellow minispike on if your planning on running at the motor arena. It's more consistent on the tarmac.

Matty, the charger has sockets for what they call banana plugs, the battery has a red plug with one vertical and one horizontal slot. So I need a lead with the red plug on one end and these banana plugs on the other...

Chalkie, thanks for the tyre tips. Do you race at Moto Arena? I have bought the little programmer which hooks up to the Esc and have already taken all the advance timing off to slow things down a bit.

Spikes work fine also, but I seem to get on better with pins on 2wd. TBH a pair of each to try wouldn't hurt.

Yeah i race there most weeks, more than happy to give you a hand if you get stuck.
Having only restarted racing 8 months ago myself i can assure you that even with no timing a 7.5 can be a handfull until you get to grips with it, I'd make sure you turn all the power settings down to start with.

I found this site excellent for setups:

http://www.petitrc.com/setup/kyosho/...UltimaRB5.html

There ae quite a few, and you can even see what tyres, and different surfaces people are running on, and get a feel for what things remain the same on the car, and what changes thr top boys make to tune the car in.

If you racing inside, the some yellow minipins all round, or some yellow stagger ribs for the front might be advisable as they keep the car nice and safe. See what indoor setups say on the petit site.

Hope this helps
Mark

Thanks Chalkie, if you see a strange character there in a week or two with a white RB5 looking lost feel free to pop over and point me in the right direction!! Do you advise getting my own transponder, if so how much are they?

Thanks very much for that link Mark, there looks some very useful bits of info on there! If you have any links to a tarmac set up please let me know as I believe thats what the surface is at what will become my local... Will definately have a read through what is on that link though, I need all the help I can get! :)

Tuesdays at the Moto Arena (buggy night), the track gets covered with an assortment of carpet, jumps and bumps with the occasional section left as tarmac. Best idea may be to use the kit set-up and have a chat to a few people once there, all friendly and approachable so no need to worry about taking up peoples time as we're all there to help each other!

I think thats what I will do to begin with, its just a case of deciding which tyres to go for to be honest. Seems that everyone has a different opinion though... :eh?: lol

I've only run 4WD there and for that i use yellow minispike front and rear. I think you'll be fine on either pins or spikes as i've seen people run either (personal preference i guess) but as it's your first time there the main aim of the night will be just to get around the track! :)

John in the shop there suggested Dboots to me, has anyone used these with any success? If not I will go with Schuacher yellows as that seems to be the common choice..

What format does the evening take, in terms of heats and finals etc. Will I need to a transponder?

Yeah the dboots terrabytes work fine on the back as well, they work just as well as spikes or pins but with a slightly different feel, and you will be able to borrow a transponder off the club.

skye
im in the same sort of boat but at the begining im the school boy ive got a bosscat but idont know wether to use it or save up for somthing els
:confused::confused::confused::confused::confused:

You could use your bosscat, but due to the age spares may be a problem, however Bosscat's make good money on a auction sites, or on here.

If you want to run 4wd my advise would be tosell the boss cat and pick up a second hand b44. Awesome car, very competative, and spares easy to get hold off.

thanks for that gives me something to think about

Nightjar, I would probably look to go down the used car route to pick up a slightly newer model. I remember my time from racing an old car against guys with the latest tech and it was a struggle. Admittingly, my car was old and pants though whereas at least your car is/was a good car in its prime so you will probably do better than I did.....

The new kit option is out of reach as a schoolboy I would think as unless you are especially good at sweet talking money out of your parents / guardians then its likely to just be too expensive. Ive spent over £900 so far and Im not finished yet! :wtf:

You can pick up a bargain if you look in the right places for a used car though. If you were looking for Nitro then I would point you in the direction of Tooleys RC in Northampton. Last Saturday I took my old Xray XB8 in there and sold it to the shop for £200. That was absolutely 100% ready to race though, I mean literally everything you needed was already installed on the car. Because I wanted to get back into racing 1/10th Electric then I just sold the whole lot in one big ready to run package. I bought the XB8 to race but just didnt get round to it and when Tooleys got rid of their track it just killed it off for me as whilst I dont mind travelling to race for big meetings (if Im good enough) I wanted a 'local' to cut my teeth on and couldnt find a suitable, regular meeting to attend.

Getting back to the point though :p as well as my old XB8 (which admitting is also a little dated now) they also had a Losi 8 rolling chassis in the shop with thousands of spares included which was going for about £150 I think and he said it had been there a few months so you could probably have shaved a bit more off that price....

What would peoples thoughts be on which 4WD 1/10 Electric to buy. I know John at MA who sold me the RB5 is all over Kyosho so would have me buy the Lazer but just wondered what others like, and why....? :thumbsup:

thanks for the help im looking at a second hand b4.1 factory even if its 2wd
ill have a look at the losi 8 and the rb8
thanks

2WD 1/10th is a good choice IMO. Ive just gone back to it with the rb5. I gave it its first serious run last night and it absolutely flies, the speed is immense! :thumbsup:

I agree with Matty, go for a second hand B44 or B4, i just sold my Bosscat for £72 on ebay & got a second hand B44 on this site for £130 with a load of spares
I went for the B44 because spares are easy to source from my local model shop, worth considering what your local model shop stocks to make getting parts easy for yourself

If you want a 4wd you can't get better than a Lazer FS2 ... ease to work with (needs very little love to keep her happy) and very very nice to drive. Responds to setups well but never violently punishes you for making a setup error.

I have convinced a lot of people to try them, all still have them!

@ Roger, thats kinda what I wanted to hear. I know a lot of people push the B44 as the 4WD of choice, but as I am starting out with the RB5 Sp2 then it would be nice to stick to one brand in my 'stable' but obviously that was only an option if its up there with the best.... :thumbsup:

On another issue, Ive been reading a few other threads and see people monitor their running temps of the ESC and motor.

How / where do I do this and what temps are ok / not ok. I have a Fusion Exceed ESC and Orca 7.5 brushless motor with 5000 40c LiPo batteries. My radio gear is the Spektrum which doesnt have the digital display (plan to upgrade this but having spent £900+ in the last two weeks my budget wouldnt stretch another £200 this month!!) All other parts are as per standard kit supply at this stage.

So how else can I monitor this and what is a good / bad temp range?

Thanks!

That should have said is the Spektrum dx3e which doesnt have the digital display....

just got enough money for a b4.1 at the moment what does anyone think

If your going for a 2wd car, go for a second had B4 one was on sale on here for £70 with a spares and a LRP Sphere. You can pick them up for cheap money.

Hi matty, are you able to shed any light on my motor / ESC temp question please?

A different question, but rather than starting a new thread I thought I would post here...

Is there an etiquette that dictates if you drive in both 2wd and 4wd then you should drive two cars from the same manufacturer? This seems to be the norm, but didnt know if it is frowned upon if you dont?

I only ask as I have my Rb5 but the more I look at the Sx3, the more I want one!! :thumbsup:

I have never driven a belt driven 4wd before though, how do they compare to shaft driven? Obviously they are competitive, but how are they on strength, reliability etc?

Unless you are sponsored by a manufacturer, drive what you want!

You will find some benefit in keeping with the same manufacturer as they are likely to share common parts, such as wheels, shocks, suspension components etc.

Note that Kyosho run a hex type wheel fitting which I think is sized unique to them - I have an X6 and an FS2 and both are ace :thumbsup:

It just means I have to have twice as many rear wheels as I would like!

HTH

Not really, lots of cars from the same manufacturer share parts ect which makes it easier/cheaper to run cars from the same stable.

You need to think about all the other stuff you carry too, is one car imperial and one metric - do you need some more tools?

Thanks guys, you both make valid points.

As my short list for a 4wd consists of 3 then you would think it would be easy to choose. Its not....:(

The shortlist consists of
* Lazer Fs2
* Cat Sx3
* AE B44.1

I chose these three largely down to the availability of spares, as well as them obviously being great cars.

Any decision I make is going to be a marginal one, so maybe sticking with Kyosho is the way to go? But then the Schumacher is made on my doorstep and is £80 cheaper for the kit... ~(why is the Kyosho so much more?) Then there is the AE....... :eh?:

All good cars. The Kyosho is £80 more due to exchange rates and tsunami's...
I run a B44, but I'd get the FS2 if I were you. They're all potentially great cars but the simple benefit of running matching (rear)wheels, (maybe) shocks and suspension components makes it a no brainer for me.

Also don't forget that you can put saddle lipo's (from the FS2) in the RB5 if your speedo has the wiring set-up correctly.

Thanks Col, I understand what you are saying and have to say that I think you are probably right.

Having said that, the £80 saving on the kit would be me a few spare sets of wheels etc for an AE or Schumacher....

Oh I dont bleedin' know....... :wtf::confused::cry: lol

Hi Skye,

Just spotted this thread after your post in the Bedford track thread... if you want, feel free to pop down to the William Knibb on a Friday evening with your car... theres a few of us that race off road & have raced over at Silverstone (myself & Adam - who replied in the other thread also) We would be only to happy to check over your car & try & answer any of your quieries.

It sounds to me like you've invested alot of money into this already - I would be inclined to stick with one class for a while until you are sure that this is the hobby for you before deciding on another car! I only do 2wd off road for cost reasons - I also run a touring car & a Mini so can't do everything!

I promise you that you will not be disapointed in the FS2! An amazingly easy car to work on, setup and brilliant to drive.

Don't worry about spares too much as they are strong and reliable.