Newbie needs help and advice :)

[JCJC]

Why not an Ansmann Macnum 2WD 1/10 RTR Electric Truck and a Madrat, both on lipo's & Brushless. Look for 2.4 transmitters, sticks or wheel, how's the learning curve going, not secret squirrel, too much information !!

I think the top guys have secret squirrel thumbs madrats & secret squirrels

[Diwrnach]

Well I'm thinking brushless might be a tad fast for the little one, would the 540 type 23T motor that the mad rat comes with be OK with a lipo running it?

Then I'll have to research a battery/motor combo for mine.

Basicaly looking at running both cars with the same charger at least to start with, keep the little ones car a touch slow and mine a bit faster

By the looks of it though going to go with the mad rat and B4 stealth buggy.

Seems a good compromise between cost and performance, plus the little ones been watching videos of the mad rat and really likes the green one

[Diwrnach]

Ah seems you need an expensive ESC for lipo batterys? or is it just the brushless needs expensive ESC?

And no, no secret squirel here

[JCJC]

Lipo's just a battery, there is a BRCA approved list, need to obey a few lipo rules and you will have no problems, and you can manage on one battery each & the same charger, so Lipo with any motor/esc. (if the lipo's drop below approx 6.3volts or something its not good for them & may not recharge, most modern esc's have a cut off to stop this)

Brushless motor must have a brushless esc, can come as a combo and is almost fit & forget (and no more expensive than brushed combo, cheaper in the long run). I don't know what the slowest brushless is, with a half good transmitter you should be able to turn down the end point to limit speed.

[Diwrnach]

Originally Posted by JCJC

Lipo's just a battery, there is a BRCA approved list, need to obey a few lipo rules and you will have no problems, and you can manage on one battery each & the same charger, so Lipo with any motor/esc. (if the lipo's drop below approx 6.3volts or something its not good for them & may not recharge, most modern esc's have a cut off to stop this)

Brushless motor must have a brushless esc, can come as a combo and is almost fit & forget (and no more expensive than brushed combo, cheaper in the long run). I don't know what the slowest brushless is, with a half good transmitter you should be able to turn down the end point to limit speed.

Ah brilliant, think I'll look into lipo/brushless for mine then, and normal brushed motor the other comes with and lipo.

This forum is awesome, learnt more in the last few hours than I have in the last 4 evenings surfing (in fact ended up more confused than when I started).

Thanks alot for the help everyone, and sorry for what are likely to be pretty silly questions

[Tempest501]

Hey, if it help i bought a b4.1 rtr and i am really pleased with it, its super value for money and its really competitive right out of the box.

So much fun.

[Diwrnach]

Originally Posted by Tempest501

Hey, if it help i bought a b4.1 rtr and i am really pleased with it, its super value for money and its really competitive right out of the box.

So much fun.

Yeah, if only they did it fully kit I would be all over it

Just looking for a motor/ecm combo, and ezrun got mentioned earlier, and elsewhere in my rsearch but only seem to be able to find them on ebay, with 4 weeks delivery from Hong Kong.

Is this right? or is there a better alternative? as they are much cheaper than the on es I can find in the UK.

[Diwrnach]

OK looking like I may have to go NiMh/brushed set up, I will put out what I have so far with prices, if anyone can advise me from here, no worrys if not, you have all been more than helpfull already

Core RC VDC-30 charger £49.99

Associated RC10 B4 Stealth Buggy £139.99 (alternative Ansmann X Pro £79.99)

Ansmann Mad Rat Racing Kit £45

Acoms Techniplus with reciever and 1 servo x 2 £75

This would leave me with about £50 give or take to try and get two lipo batterys and a brushless motor/ecm combo.... not going to happen

Though I would have £110 if I went with the Ansmann X Pro, which really still isnt going to happen.

So guess its looking like NiMh and brush motors.

Basicaly my budget is £350 for two cars, one I would like to race with, both need to be kits, I could push to maybe £400 but I would rather stick to my original budget if at all possible.

Think I'm asking to much here :P

[stox217]

May i say something.

Try finding your local indoors venue and have a dab in mardave racing?
Its cheep fun and easy to build cars

[captainlip]

not at all.....

ansmann mad rat brushed rtr for the young girl.

£90 RTR

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...n&ItemID=33535


b4.1 brushless rtr for yourself

http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...n&ItemID=35112

£200 RTR

and if you call dave at roundabout and mention myself a regular customer I know he will give you a better price

even at full price that still leaves you £60 for lipos and charger.

do what I did get two turnigy lipos from hobbyking and an imax b6 charger....

and to solve the building it part, pull them apart and try and rebuild them and setting them up.....

cant say any better than this

[Si Coe]

The B4 is a better car than the X-Pro, but if you get your daughter the Madrat, there is a good case for the X-Pro in that they are basically the same car, so you can share spares etc. Got to make life easier doing that.
Ezruns are mainly from Hong Kong. You can get them here, but expect to pay a lot extra for doing so as you are just paying for someone else to import them. Giant Cod sell the speed controller but not the motors, though you can use other motors. Nothing more than a 7.5t though.

You can get cheaper chargers than the Core, though I'd avoid anything that charges at less than 5A.
You can go brushed for now, since a brushed esc costs as little as £24. Please note you'll need two as the Madrat comes with a motor, but no esc. Brushed motors with decent performance can be had for £24 too - the B4/X-pro will need one but your daughter will be fine with the Madrats stock one.


Edit - Actually I'd get the following:
Madrat brushed RTR for daughter.
X-Pro for yourself - build with her. Its virtually identical to her car so the experience is the same.
Radio for the X-Pro
Ezrun .8.5t system for X-Pro
Lipos off hobbyking
Imax charger from the same place

Should be doable inside the budget.

[Dave Treacy]

I'm not a buggy racer but I've been racing for about 30 years and am Chairman of the Milton Keynes Club. I can't offer advice on type of buggy but...

My view on this is the idea of 8.5 / 7.5 brushless motors is crazy - far too fast for a beginner. I'd suggest you consider a cheap Ansmann brushed motor, something like a Clash 23 turn brushed motor (RRP £7.95) with a cheap / 2nd hand brushed ESC (you can get a LRP Quantum Pro Sport ESC for about £10 off fleabay). With motors, the lower the number, the faster the impact speed when you crash (and you will)

Regarding your affinity for Tamiya, if you have a local indoor club (and seeing as winter's approaching fast) it may be worth finding out if they run a Tamiya Mini class. The Tamiya M03/M05 is durable and cheap to run but provides great fun for all. At the moment our club gets about as many mini racers as it does touring cars. The kits cost around £90 (shop around for bargains), use cheap Ni-MH cells (about £18 each) and as easy to build, drive and cheap to maintain.

HTH
Dave

[Diwrnach]

More good info, thanks alot, could you tell me if the turnigy lipos are BRCA approved? cant see them on the list?

[captainlip]

doesnt really matter unless you are raicing in regionals or nationals, which i wont get round to for a long time

if your interested im considering some new lipos, and have 2 turnigy lipos 5200mah 30-40c burst that i could sell you for the right price, with deans connectors. all you need then is the imax/tunigy charger.

[Diwrnach]

Originally Posted by captainlip

doesnt really matter unless you are raicing in regionals or nationals, which i wont get round to for a long time

if your interested im considering some new lipos, and have 2 turnigy lipos 5200mah 30-40c burst that i could sell you for the right price, with deans connectors. all you need then is the imax/tunigy charger.

Might be interested, what sort of money we talking?

[JCJC]

Originally Posted by captainlip

doesnt really matter unless you are raicing in regionals or nationals, which i wont get round to for a long time

I would like to think some clubs may be a bit more fussy.......

Also note - its that time of year, expect a new list for 2011, don't ask when

[Diwrnach]

Bit of an update, had a chat with the bank manager (the wife) and have a bit better budget, should be able to spend £550 now instead of £350.

So this throws a bit of a spanner in the works, need to start research over a bit lol.

Any recommendations now?

Probably stick to mad rat for the little one, with the motor it comes with, lipo battery of sme sort.

Then whats rest on mine

[Diwrnach]

Originally Posted by Dave Treacy

I'm not a buggy racer but I've been racing for about 30 years and am Chairman of the Milton Keynes Club. I can't offer advice on type of buggy but...

My view on this is the idea of 8.5 / 7.5 brushless motors is crazy - far too fast for a beginner. I'd suggest you consider a cheap Ansmann brushed motor, something like a Clash 23 turn brushed motor (RRP £7.95) with a cheap / 2nd hand brushed ESC (you can get a LRP Quantum Pro Sport ESC for about £10 off fleabay). With motors, the lower the number, the faster the impact speed when you crash (and you will)

Regarding your affinity for Tamiya, if you have a local indoor club (and seeing as winter's approaching fast) it may be worth finding out if they run a Tamiya Mini class. The Tamiya M03/M05 is durable and cheap to run but provides great fun for all. At the moment our club gets about as many mini racers as it does touring cars. The kits cost around £90 (shop around for bargains), use cheap Ni-MH cells (about £18 each) and as easy to build, drive and cheap to maintain.

HTH
Dave

Thanks alot for this, thinking you may be right, sorry I didnt acknowlege this earlier as somehow I missed this reply, not sure how, but when I read the thread back spotted it.

Good advice I think

Might buy the brushless/ecm combo and put it in a draw untill I'm more experianced.

[Diwrnach]

This looks nice, think it was posted earlier as well http://www.modelsport.co.uk/?CallFun...n&ItemID=28600

Though a Tamiya Durga sounds interesting as well now with more cash.

Are these a decent car?

[Diwrnach]

Oooooh how about this? http://www.fusionhobbies.com/Product...ctCode=TA84100