Looking to buy a nitro RC

dts

Hi Lads,
I am looking to buy my first nitro rc and wondered if you had any recomendations.
I have looked on ebay and the makes of road cars that look the best are Kyosho, Fusion, Tamiya and Schumacher.
Whats your thoughts?

coolwings

The truth is they're all good.
And every one of them claims that "their one" is the best.

What you need to look at carefully is how easy it is to get spare parts, cos you're going to break lots of bits if this is your first RC car. SO a source of parts near where you live is important, especially if you're getting started.

Other makes that go well are Carson, CEN, Graupner, Thunder Tiger, Traxxas.

This link has links to places in Ireland where you can get car accessories & parts ...
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=199335
It would be no harm to call a few and talk it through.

Devion

hay,

My first car was a 2wd Kyosho RT (now end of line and i broke mine) I would start off with a 1:10 scale car if your new. There alot simplier to work on.
also they havent got as much power as the 1:8 so a good way to learn control.

Kyosho is a very good make. nice and solid and very fast, and make world champion buggies.

Tamiya are good starter cars, Parts are easy to get.

dont know about the other 2 but i have used Schumacher parts and they seem to be strong.

A popular starter is the T-Maxx from traxxas. Or the HPI Savage (my favorite) but these are both trucks on/offroad so i dont think they will intrest you.

I would go RTR to start off with. This will only get you going you will need to upgrade the radio/servo's first beacuse stock servos genrally arnt very good. (they use plastic gears which will easily warp) Also new servos can give you better handling.

Also getting a battery pack will increase your battery life, And eventually will save you money. For a charger I use the superbrain959.

This is a very expensive hobby, but done right you can keep the costs low, Like an RTR can porbably work for 2-3months and you will have no major problems.

I hope that helped!

dts

The car I am bidding on at the moment is a HPI Racing Nitro RS4 3. I have to admit I have chose it for the looks rather than for practical or technical reasons.

Devion

Hay,

Thats a nice car, I have seen one before very easy to control.
What equipment does the one off ebay come with? (if you can provide the link it would be great, no i dont want to bid :P)

If it has the stock pipe, That would be high priortiy to upgrade, Its a 2peice but hasnt got any springs holding it together, So they can easily come off.
When i had a pipe like that i just put half a dozen zipties.
(you dont want to get any dirt in these small engines, and it will suck it in if they fall apart) As its an onroad car you probably wont be driving over rocks :P

My ofna is running there air filter and works wonders!

dts

There are three available on ebay at the moment. I will be watching to see if I can get the best price. Also found another car that looks the biz.
Thunder tiger ts4n 1/10 nitro powered 4wd touring car. See pic. There are two of these. It comes with PRO 12BX ENGINE COMPLETE WITH ALL RADIO GEAR, CHARGER, GLOWPLUG AND FUEL FILLER BOTTLE.
MODIFIED WITH A FACTORY 2 SPEED GEARBOX AND SINGLE SPEED
SPARE SET OF WHEELS AND TYRES
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19168&item=5960369704&rd=1

After your response for the HPI do you think that the thunder tiger would be as good?
The link for that is
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19168&item=5962364330&rd=1

Devion

I have never seen a thunder tiger but i hear they are very very good.
its only had 1gallon through it, so its still isnt fully broken in, But all the hard work has been done for you.

the HPI seller i dont like how he says add 3% to pay with paypal, for a few reaons its extremly cheaky and 100% ILLEGAL and if ebay finds ALL his listings will be taken down.

dts

Cheers for the help. I wont wory about the 3% so long as I get it at a good price. I will let you know what I end up with.
For now I look foward to a day off work tomorrow so I can get a round of golf in and then spin around my battery powerd 7.2V 1/10 Nikko car. I have a hop up motor on order for that that I might get in the morning if the postie delivers.

dts

So I got one.
It's a 1/10 Scale Thundertiger TS-4n Nitro Powered 4 wheel drive Honda Accord Touring Car.

Features -

2 - Channel Radio Gear

Painted Body with Decals

Strong, fibreglass reinforced composite parts

Steel hubs and dogbones

Triple belt 4 wheel drive train

Pro series pull-start engine with glow plug.

Looking foward to collecting it.

Devion

Very nice!

Now all u got todo is find a big tarmac area and im talking HUGE! I still havent found a place where my buggy can roam free yet.

dts

I live near Mullingar and we have a retail estate that is perfect on Sunday mornings for spinning the car round.
I am wondering if anyone knows of a model shop or place to get fuel near Mullingar?

dts

Just to let you know,
ebay may not be the best place to get a car from. I have now been waiting over two weeks for it to arrive. The money has transfered but getting any information about shipping from the seller is imposible.

You never know, it could turn up today!

mugenextreme

i cant say you will get it or not but from my dealings on ebay sofar every thing has gotten over 2-3 weeks the norm. One thing that could slow it ,is if they are still checking for customs with gls, this will only apply if u post using usps that shower of muppets have caused me more problems in the past then anyone else i have had to deal with. best bet is to get details on the type of shipping they used, hope its not like one guys did and shipped it surface from america, what an ass.

dts

Finally it arrived on Wednesday nearly four weeks after my bid had wone.
Now to get some juce to get it running.

CHUCKLEZ

now u have to break it in lol the awkward part.

dts

That is the first time I have had any trouble getting things through ebay. When the car arrived it had been sent on a 24hr delivery so I dont know what the seller was playing at. I think he was jussed P O because I had won the bid at such a low price compared with what other Thunder Tiger cars are going for.
I will still use ebay as it is alot cheaper than getting things from the shops over here in Ireland.

dts

Do you think this is a good price for all these spares?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5970098580&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&rd=1

dts

There is also this spares set, but there isnt as much in this lot.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5969784503&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBI%3AIT&rd=1

Devion

Looks intresting, he is right 1 set of plastic parts can set you back 10quid, althought be careful when bidding beacuse he put posting at 14quid it maybe more to ireland.

dts

I get them sent to my mums. Then she ships them over to me or I wait untill next time I am over and pick them up.

Devion

Yah i do the same thing with my bro in england :P

dts

Bad new,
I had got the new car running well. Used it a few time and was getting over confident.
On Monday took it out for a bash and hit a curb stone sideways. It shoved the servos and the bettery pack straigt through the side on the fuel tank.
I stripped the car and cleaned it all up. Fitted a new fuel tank and tried to start it last night. For some reason when pulling the pull start it wouldnt pull fuel through the line? Why would this be?
Is there a way to check that you have good compression in the engine?
Should you cover the exhaust pipe when trying to pull fuel through with the pull start?
Eventualy I snapped the pull start and after putting that back together gave up at about 10:30 last night.
I even missed the football!
Any help on this would be great....

no leaf clover

you do say any help so i'll tell ya what i know! my cuz has a cen and it tells him to cover the exhaust pipe to prime the engine. might do it. let us know if you've it sorted or have any luck.

dts

I got the car going again. It took me three nights but I eventualy found that I had the piston in 90 deg out. This I only descovered after I had snapped the pull start twice and broke the pull start spring. Never mind its tuned again now and running well. Look foward to getting it back into some open space at the weekend. Hopefully this time I will manage to bring it home with no new scars.
Had great fun trying to get to the bottom of this. I supose thats part of what having a nitro car is all about.

SLIM19198

you got lucky, I am now the RC mechanic in my group!!!

This week i have to replace a carb needle and housing in one T-maxx, 2 sets of DIFFS (dont ask) in T-Maxx's and also repair a wheel joint in a HPI mt-2

CHUCKLEZ

Slim u aint gotta replace my diffs this week at all Maybe next all depends wat way the weekend goes lol;)

dts

So now the car is back up and running I decided to buy a few extras.
I have ordered a new ss pipe and a spare pull start, just in case I break the one I fixed again.
I also have a bid in on a hop up evo engine.
Like I carnt do enough damage with the standard 15 pro.

dts

The new mods look great I got the pipe and also new battery plate and front and rear shock towers. I also added blue pipe and a blue manifold coupling to match the car and its running well. Not sure about trying to upgrade the engine as it looks like uprated thunder tiger engines have a differen manifold port that comes out of the back instead of the side and is round instead of oval?
I will try to remember to get a picture so I can post it on the site.

coolwings

dts wrote:

... trying to upgrade the engine as it looks like uprated thunder tiger engines have a differen manifold port that comes out of the back instead of the side and is round instead of oval...

Most really hot car engines are rear exhaust.
They require a special manifold to reach round to the backplate of the engine, and the car chassis must have enough space there to accommodate this different manifold.

dts

Checked the manual and you can get the different manifolds for the TSN4 to acomidate the round manifolds.
All I need to do now is win one on ebay at a good price.

no leaf clover

dts wrote:

All I need to do now is win one on ebay at a good price.

you really do live by that site dont you!? have you ever had any problems?

dts

Only once had a problem. That was when I won my TSN4. I paid for the car but had problems getting hold of the seller when after a month it still hadnt arrived. I managed to get a fax number and home address for the guy and after a threat of reporting him to ebay he sent the car on a next day delivery at twice to postage cost that I had paid him. I left bad feedback and noticed that in the same month he had also recived a couple more bad feedbacks.
The feedback is a good way of avoiding bad sellers and I have had no problems since.
So long as you do your research then ebay is a great way to pick up a bargin!

dts

I am now thinking instead of upgrading my TSN4 of getting a CTS4. I have seen this one on ebay and for the cost of upgrading my car the CTS4 has it all already on.
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=19168&item=5977724067&rd=1
What do you lot think?
Do you know if there in anywhere in Ireland that stock CEN parts for the CTS4?

coolwings

First question
Looking at the page U gave I see that a "free temp gun" for measuring engine temp is provided....
Could this suggest CT can sometimes run a tad on the hot side? If so consider using a bit extra oil in the fuel to provide good cooling. Or stay with low nitro . We preferred 5-10% nitro, not 16%, when we had CENs.

2nd Question
At Green Hobby & Model in Dublin we sold CEN for several years and we would still have a reasonable CEN parts stock, especially for the versions we sold.

Coolwings
:cool: :cool: :cool:

dts

Cheers for that.
At the mo I have only run on 10% quick start.
I didnt win the ct4s as the reserve was too high. There is another one appeard today so I have asked if he will also send to Ireland and am now waiting on a reply.
Do you know what cars green hobby do stock at the moment?

dts

Well I won a CT4S on ebay. Spoke to the lad today and he has put it in the post this afternoon.
Had my TS4N out today and snapped one of the drive belts so untill a replacment arrives its only front wheel drive. All good fun!

dts

I get my CEN CT4S tomorrow. It arrived at my mum and dads a couple of days ago and they are bringing it over with them. You know I am going to heve some fun this weekend. Still no spare belt for my TSN4 though. Antics havent emailed me with a final bill yet and its been over four days since I placed the order. I had an email yesterday stating that they were sorry and will get back to me with a price for shipping. Still waiting. Last time I used them they were great and I had the parts within a week and I recomended them on the board. Now I am not so sure.

CHUCKLEZ

well i actually prefer ordering with www.modelsport.co.uk there very quick never tried antics before though.

dts

My pal has just had a load of trouble with them. He waited over a month to get a box of bits for his HPI RS4. Apparently they were waiting on the restocking of the roto starts and so didnt send the order without it. There was no communication of this untill he phoned to find out where the beep his bits were.
I supose this is the problem with having to get parts mail order.

CHUCKLEZ

if there was anything out of stock with our orders they ship wat the have and wen they get the rest they ship them then Which wasnt that bad.

coolwings

from my reply post no 2 in this thread ....

coolwings wrote:

What you need to look at carefully is how easy it is to get spare parts, cos you're going to break lots of bits if this is your first RC car. SO a source of parts near where you live is important, especially if you're getting started.

posts since then ....

dts wrote:

So now the car is back up and running I decided to buy a few extras.....I have ordered a new ss pipe and a spare pull start, just in case I break the one I fixed again..

dts wrote:

Do you think this is a good price for all these spares?

dts wrote:

I supose this is the problem with having to get parts mail order.

I still have many "unnecessary spare parts" left over from my mail order buying days. I have also thrown away many unused "never to be used" purchases of the same type. Not to mention the buying unseen mistakes where I ended up selling the stuff onto someone else who actually wanted it.

Your 1st model is teaching U how to do RC engines ... but it's also teaching you the real cost of mail order ... (I estimate about 20% extra wastage - customs - freight - phonecalls - wrongbuys- over and above the cost in the catalogues, for me, over the years. Until I woke up).
Live and learn.

coolwings

Chucklez ... Did U ever do the other video clip yet?

CHUCKLEZ

which 1?

CHUCKLEZ

well next week i should have another 1 made alright with some road cars aswell as trucks.

coolwings

I only saw the first 1 so far...

CHUCKLEZ wrote:

well next week i should have another 1 made alright with some road cars aswell as trucks.

Looking forward already

CHUCKLEZ

might be a bit later as i have to get a new sets of bulkheads for my maxx after yesterday. lol Might still make a roa car 1 though.

dts

True you do live and learn. The problem is if you live outside Dublin then you are stuffed. Mail order is the only way! Oh and there are bargins to be had on ebay. Now we have ebay.ie!!!!!
I have finaly had the final shipping bill so the parts should be in the post tonight. So all being well they will arive some time early next week.
At the end of the day I am enjoying the hobby, (taking apart, putting back together and trying to fix) and I am sure that the CT4S wont be the last car I buy this year.

coolwings

dts wrote:

...At the end of the day I am enjoying the hobby, (taking apart, putting back together and trying to fix) and I am sure that the CT4S wont be the last car I buy this year.

It's true ... if U don't enjoy makin n fixin it's a tough hobby.

CHUCKLEZ

very tough. lol ;~)

SLIM19198

CHUCKLEZ wrote:

very tough. lol ;~)

The cheek of him ^^^

I do all his friggin repairs, and he goes out and breaks it all again!!!

I know more about RC engines now than I do about real engines! ;-)

SLIM

SLIM19198

CHUCKLEZ wrote:

ya but every repair i helps with

The last repair was to fit a forward only conversion and a new set of diffs on a t-maxx, he put in 1 ( I repeat, 1) screw, some help!!!!