What's Your R/C Story
09-28-2014, 05:59 PM
#78
1992~1994
I was stationed at Seymour Johnson AFB, but I don't remember how I stumbled upon a track near Mt. Olive NC (probably RCCA Mag); after visiting the off-road track; I finally decided to saved enough money to buy the RC10 I've always wanted...only one better...the new Championship Edition "Stealth Transmission" RC10. I thought I was so bad assed showing up on race day with a new kit that no one else had.
Those Losi/Schumacher drivers sure did a job on me...I was dead last (6~10 racers show up to race) almost every single race for three weeks. I was the outsider and I would feel like I couldn't talk to the other racers about their set-ups. Then with better batteries (matched NiCd 1400 SCR packs)
and tires, and some experimenting with oils; pistons; gearing, and springs...my Associated "pink pig" was flying past the JRX Pros & Schumachers. After it was all said and done, the other racers were some of the nicest people ever.....after I came out of my shell and ridding myself of racing jitters.
Those Losi/Schumacher drivers sure did a job on me...I was dead last (6~10 racers show up to race) almost every single race for three weeks. I was the outsider and I would feel like I couldn't talk to the other racers about their set-ups. Then with better batteries (matched NiCd 1400 SCR packs)
and tires, and some experimenting with oils; pistons; gearing, and springs...my Associated "pink pig" was flying past the JRX Pros & Schumachers. After it was all said and done, the other racers were some of the nicest people ever.....after I came out of my shell and ridding myself of racing jitters. Last edited by RustyUs; 09-29-2014 at 09:12 AM.
09-28-2014, 06:16 PM
#79
I also mentioned about The Evader Coalition Part 2
Speaking of which...DieHarder...your parts will be sent out tomorrow.
Last edited by RustyUs; 09-29-2014 at 08:55 AM.
10-03-2014, 07:25 PM
#80
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a few years ago after i had just gotten out of rehab. i was lost, didn't know what to do. i was lost, all i knew was skateboarding and drugs. i was sitting on the couch at my bro's house watching TV in a daze. my bro came in, said i needed a hobby and something to work on and handed me his old RC10B3.
before that i had never owned anything more than a couple cheap toy grade RC's.
i fixed up the RC10B3 and drove it for a while. then eventually sold it to help pay for the security deposit on my apartment.
a short while later i picked up a used duratrax evader. ran that for a while. turned it into a baja bug with buggy wheels and a baja bug body and put a brushless motor in it. and just recently i sold that go a guy at work who was looking for a cheap truck to run with his son and bought my first new RC, an RC10 worlds car.
i don't do much RCing around home, i mostly use it when i go camping or go to the lake, river or desert with friends. i sometimes run it in the parking lot before/after work. my buggy mostly sits on the stereo speaker in my living room or rolls around in the back of my truck. iv got a new pinion gear i need to put on it, im just busy with other stuff (mainly a seadoo i just picked up. the previous owner did not take care of it) so it will probably sit on the stereo speaker until i go camping again at the end of the month and then it will be a last minute thrash to swap the gear and test so i can take it with me. the off road season is starting in a few weeks so ill probably be going to glamis, pismo and ocotillo with friends, probably do a lot of RC'ing over the next 6 months.
before that i had never owned anything more than a couple cheap toy grade RC's.
i fixed up the RC10B3 and drove it for a while. then eventually sold it to help pay for the security deposit on my apartment.
a short while later i picked up a used duratrax evader. ran that for a while. turned it into a baja bug with buggy wheels and a baja bug body and put a brushless motor in it. and just recently i sold that go a guy at work who was looking for a cheap truck to run with his son and bought my first new RC, an RC10 worlds car.
i don't do much RCing around home, i mostly use it when i go camping or go to the lake, river or desert with friends. i sometimes run it in the parking lot before/after work. my buggy mostly sits on the stereo speaker in my living room or rolls around in the back of my truck. iv got a new pinion gear i need to put on it, im just busy with other stuff (mainly a seadoo i just picked up. the previous owner did not take care of it) so it will probably sit on the stereo speaker until i go camping again at the end of the month and then it will be a last minute thrash to swap the gear and test so i can take it with me. the off road season is starting in a few weeks so ill probably be going to glamis, pismo and ocotillo with friends, probably do a lot of RC'ing over the next 6 months.
10-05-2014, 09:01 AM
#81
Like most I started with cheap toy grade cars like Nikkos. I was always so disappointed as they would only run a few minutes on the 4 or 8 AA batteries and they were so slow.
Then in 5th grade a kid brought a Tamiya fast attack to school and we ran it around in the halls. I went home that night and told my mom I wanted an RC car. We went to Tom Thumb Hobbies in Evanston IL and talked t the guys there. Since I was about 10 they recommended a Tamiya Grasshopper as the first car. I'll never forget it. The car was $64.99 and they offered a layaway plan. Mom put $20 down to start the plan and the rest was up to me. It took me about 2 months to figure out how to come up with the remaining money but I did it by washing neighbors cars, cutting grass, taking out trash and anything else I could do to get a dollar. I still remember walking to that hobby sop and staring at my box siting on the layaway shelf behind the counter. I finally brought the car home and it took me several days to put it together. My mom wasn't the building type and she almost always worked. One thing no one told me at the time was I still needed to buy a battery, a charger and a controller. All told It took me close to a yr maybe more before that car moved under its own power.
Well that was almost exactly 30 yrs ago give or take a week or two. In that time I have grown up and been pretty successful with what I do. I've stayed in the hobby pretty much since that first day and haven't been without at least a couple of cars since that first Grasshopper came home. Over the years I've worked at a couple of hobby shops, been a distributor for a few of the major brand and ran a pretty successful RC assembly and repair business from home all on top of my real job. I still have a number of people send me stuff to build or repair. Which reminds me. have a couple to fix and get back out the door today
I've owned somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 cars from every manufacturer out there and have assembled, fixed or bought and sold 10's of thousands. I once had a woman who bought 2 Grasshoppers and 2 Hornets for her 4 kids . She asked me to assemble them in time for their birthday (they were quadruplets, poor lady). I had 3 days and a dozen cars in front of them. I literally started by painting the bodies and letting them dry. All 4 cars were assembled the same night and decals applied the next morning. I tested them in my basement and put them in the back of the car. I got to the party about an hour before it started. Just enough time to put the cars on a big table and cover them with a big blanket. I stuck around for the big reveal and made sure everything went well. That family kept me busy for a couple of years.
Today my personal collection is right around 220 cars, 3 planes and a few boats. Mostly vintage models that I have a perfect shelf queen of and a runner so yes there are duplicates. The range goes from old school Aristo Craft Kangaroos to brand new Associated SC10.2's and everything in between. If it was a kit odds are really good that I've either owned or built at least 1.
Then in 5th grade a kid brought a Tamiya fast attack to school and we ran it around in the halls. I went home that night and told my mom I wanted an RC car. We went to Tom Thumb Hobbies in Evanston IL and talked t the guys there. Since I was about 10 they recommended a Tamiya Grasshopper as the first car. I'll never forget it. The car was $64.99 and they offered a layaway plan. Mom put $20 down to start the plan and the rest was up to me. It took me about 2 months to figure out how to come up with the remaining money but I did it by washing neighbors cars, cutting grass, taking out trash and anything else I could do to get a dollar. I still remember walking to that hobby sop and staring at my box siting on the layaway shelf behind the counter. I finally brought the car home and it took me several days to put it together. My mom wasn't the building type and she almost always worked. One thing no one told me at the time was I still needed to buy a battery, a charger and a controller. All told It took me close to a yr maybe more before that car moved under its own power.
Well that was almost exactly 30 yrs ago give or take a week or two. In that time I have grown up and been pretty successful with what I do. I've stayed in the hobby pretty much since that first day and haven't been without at least a couple of cars since that first Grasshopper came home. Over the years I've worked at a couple of hobby shops, been a distributor for a few of the major brand and ran a pretty successful RC assembly and repair business from home all on top of my real job. I still have a number of people send me stuff to build or repair. Which reminds me. have a couple to fix and get back out the door today
I've owned somewhere in the neighborhood of 2000 cars from every manufacturer out there and have assembled, fixed or bought and sold 10's of thousands. I once had a woman who bought 2 Grasshoppers and 2 Hornets for her 4 kids . She asked me to assemble them in time for their birthday (they were quadruplets, poor lady). I had 3 days and a dozen cars in front of them. I literally started by painting the bodies and letting them dry. All 4 cars were assembled the same night and decals applied the next morning. I tested them in my basement and put them in the back of the car. I got to the party about an hour before it started. Just enough time to put the cars on a big table and cover them with a big blanket. I stuck around for the big reveal and made sure everything went well. That family kept me busy for a couple of years.
Today my personal collection is right around 220 cars, 3 planes and a few boats. Mostly vintage models that I have a perfect shelf queen of and a runner so yes there are duplicates. The range goes from old school Aristo Craft Kangaroos to brand new Associated SC10.2's and everything in between. If it was a kit odds are really good that I've either owned or built at least 1.
Last edited by john01374; 10-05-2014 at 09:06 AM.
10-05-2014, 01:35 PM
#82
I vaguely remember the Kangaroo ad in RCCA Mag....ehh ....I probably seen it in RC Modeler (before Radio Control Car Action came about)
Thanks for jogging my brain and the story.
Last edited by RustyUs; 10-05-2014 at 01:42 PM.
10-07-2014, 06:00 PM
#84
I got bored and started searching (Yahooing...I don't google) cars that I once owned. Low and behold, I seen a body that I painted in 1994 on a Traxxas TCP. I sold that thing probably 8 years ago on eBay. Glad to see it is still up and running.
Those TCP images brought back fun; exciting, and horrible memories. The biggest race I was ever at...Motorama '94. Two hundred racers show up; I had the TCP two weeks...let's just say....I made it to the 'F' Main in stock class. Horrible....just horrible. At least I wasn't in the 'J' Main race. I blamed the lackluster lap times to nerves. It was a good time though.
Those TCP images brought back fun; exciting, and horrible memories. The biggest race I was ever at...Motorama '94. Two hundred racers show up; I had the TCP two weeks...let's just say....I made it to the 'F' Main in stock class
. Horrible....just horrible. At least I wasn't in the 'J' Main race. I blamed the lackluster lap times to nerves. It was a good time though.
Last edited by RustyUs; 10-07-2014 at 06:19 PM.
10-20-2014, 01:13 PM
#85
Back in the day, at that NC track, my one buddy raced strictly dirt oval modifieds. We get to the track; he whips off this late model body attached to his car, and there is was....a STOP sign; cut up, and drilled with all these holes in it (to make it lighter i guess) and mounted a Kyosho Raider gearbox and suspension/steering to the hacked-up Stop sign. I'm so glad I brought the only other guy from the base that was into RC. That thing he called a Raider would just stick to the inside of the track while others were trying to straighten themselves out in the corners. Other guys were using too much power; while my buddy used a very mild modified motor just cruising along . One driver at a time he would pass; making his way to the leader, and wining almost every heat/main. Everyone was in such disbelief when my buddy would pop off the body.
They all had the same reactions I had. You would hear, "What the !?... or...What contraption is THAT? .....you're kiddin me right?" I never got tired of seeing people's reactions every week gazing with disbelief that a late-model "Stop Sign" would handle so well.
I think my buddy is the one who came up with the saying, "If it aint broke, leave it alone." That Raider gearbox had an opening that my buddy dumped whatever lube he had on hand into it...Vaseline...black grease, chunks of Chap Stick (original black label)....I laughed so hard one night he whips out a tub of Crisco! I think he purposely brought the Crisco to get me going.
Oh if only I was to have all of today's video recording gadgets back then. I try and find a pic of the "Raider".
Last edited by RustyUs; 10-20-2014 at 01:58 PM.
10-24-2014, 08:47 AM
#86
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My RC story starts back in the late 80's with a pair of Tyco bandits bought new at wal-mart. I loved those trucks, and beat the living crap outta them! I had a series of toy grade stuff cause ive always been a low budget kinda guy. In the late 90's I had a Schumacher Daytona pan car given to me. This was my first hobby grade RC, and whatta start! With its .15 nitro it would easily hit 40mph. It was several years after that before my second wife got me back into RC's again. This time I bought a used Tamiya ta01 s-10 desert racer, and a nib Evader EXT. I was hooked! We wound up with a used Traxxas Revo 3.3, and several other used nitros. My current basher is a Redcat Tornado EPX, that i converted to a sct, using the suspension from a Vortex SS. Its pretty sweet with the brushless, and li-pos.
I'm not a racer, I'm a basher, and we have fun as a family, with everything from a traxxas cat, and tamiya frog to our outrageous Revo.
I'm not a racer, I'm a basher, and we have fun as a family, with everything from a traxxas cat, and tamiya frog to our outrageous Revo.
10-25-2014, 06:05 PM
#87
Crazyhorse, that is a great, how do I say it..."collage" of vehicles to have tried out over the years. That's awesome... jumping from one brand to another and switching up platforms.
Do you still have all of the "rigs" listed listed in your signature?
Do you still have all of the "rigs" listed listed in your signature?
Last edited by RustyUs; 10-25-2014 at 06:19 PM.
10-25-2014, 08:02 PM
#88
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Yes i do, and i use all of them occasionally, but mostly the redcat cause it does so well in the grass now lol
11-03-2014, 08:42 AM
#89
1994~1998?
1994 I got out of the Air Force and moved home to PA. No job; no money, and no racing RCs. My best friend finished college; moved home; we started back up were we left off in high school...chasing girls, and hanging out. Eventually, we started a band (punk, grunge, rock) ; looking for a singer and bass player; me getting a job... once again RC took the back seat in life.
