gawe22

sorry folks, a bunch more questions....I'm back in RC...just bought a Hornet kit for my son and an F150 Baja kit for myself.

First:

Are there any parts I want to improve on while building first time?

Second:

Will the Baja keep up with the Hornet or do I need to upgrade?

Third:

On a bit of a budget so what radio, servo, batteries, charger, etc...?

Thanks so much!!!

RustyUs

Step on over to HobbyPartz if you are on a serious low budget and you could do a one-stop-shop there for most everything you listed. I get most everything from eBay 'cause I like auctions and I can find better deals than the big online stores...but not all the time.

I really don't know what features you need/want in a radio. I have a FlySky (FS-GT3C) radio and have no complaints about the brand. Heck the extra receivers (if you have/get a radio with multiple car memory) are around $7. The FS-GT2 would probably fit the bill for you two RC vehicles. The only thing that would make the FS-GT2 a great radio is if it had end point adjustment for the steering. I wish I had good low budget radios like them back in the day to choose from.

Are you planing on using what type of battery... NiMh or going LiPo? I don't even know if LiPo hard case packs will fit in those cool Tamiya cars you got. I have both hard case LiPo and soft case packs. I haven't had any problems using soft packs in my truck or buggy. I have read that people are concerned about rocks puncturing through a soft pack LiPo (LiPos are a little more fragile than NiMh batteries).It's just a pain in the butt that I must add a foam cushion, because of the thickness difference, when I go to use my soft cased LiPos.

As far as servos from HobbyPartz... I know a couple of people in the forum here that have used them and I'm sure one of them will chime in here soon... ...Along with the Thunder AC680 or AC6 charger. I myself use two B6AC 80W from good old eBay. I'm a frugal dude who doesn't need specs out the kazoo with a $100/$200 price tag.

SyCo_VeNoM

threw links in your other post

improvement parts.... I don't think there are any after market parts for either

speed no clue of the 2 head to head never saw the truck the hornet though is not very fast from what I recall.

RustyUs

silly me... didn't even see it SyCo

RustyUs

You tube video with stock motor...here. I raced against one on a figure 8 track inside a super small building. The kid that had the F150 had a mod motor in it though. That kid could drive anything well, he got bored of winning all the time with his Losi buggy and wanted a challenge. I remember he had his hands full as that F150 truck bounced all over the place; trying to climb walls.

gawe22

OK so I bought 2 flysky fs-gt2 transmitter receiver combo....also bought 2 d771 solar servos...

now...batteries and charger...???

as for parts I was thinking anything that is stock that should be upgraded right away like ball bearings etc...

part of me wishes i bought the kyosho scorpion kit instead of the ford for myself...

SyCo_VeNoM

you will also need the UBEC's I linked in your other post or the receivers WILL burn out
The TEU104BK Tamiya includes puts full battery voltage(over 7 volts) into the receiver where it is made to take 6volts max
Also you have to do a little modification to the plug that goes into the radio basically pop the red wire out of the 3pin connector

Basically it will look like this (pic of my hornet)

notice how the red wire going to channel 2 is disconnected (I cut it on this one but you can pop it out and tape it)
UBEC goes to the battery port which is the top

Note the UBEC you would get(the one I linked is the same one I just pulled the sticker off) won't need to be spliced like that. I had to cut the wires cause I was using it for something else prior, and cut off the connectors. It actually has plugs that plug right into the ESC, and receiver


http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/rc-e...l#post11931960 read that it has links to what else you will need at a minimum outside batteries

gawe22

OK so everything you are talking about is if I use lipo batteries, correct? Is it worth the upgrade?

SyCo_VeNoM

no actually not using lipos
the UBEC is needed for ANY type of battery as it will blow the receiver out. We had a member here years ago that used the flysky radio on that ESC, and was wondering why he kept having issues. I looked up and found that the ESC was putting too much voltage into the RX, and when he bought a new RX, and put 6V(he used 4AA's as a test) he found it stopped blowing them out. He was using NiMh stick packs.

The charger I only recommend as it costs about the same as a NiMh charger(might be cheaper actually), and can charge NiMh, NiCd, and LiPo's if you ever decide to upgrade. Honestly I went NiMh charger originally, and had to pay twice as I decided to go lipo eventually(but in all honesty lipos were JUST coming out then)


Only thing which would be needed only for lipos is the Low Voltage Alarm I mentioned, but didn't go much in depth on.

As for being worth it... Lipo batteries charge faster(most can charge in 30 mins to 1 hour), BUT they require more attention. For instance you can not discharge a lipo below 3volts a cell (you would be looking at 2S lipos for those vehicles) if you do you pretty much junked the pack (easy to do on brushed motors). Another is if you leave them fully charged for a few days you could damage the pack you basically charge em prior to use.
You have to be careful not to damage them as they can burst into flames. While charging you have to pay attention cause if they stat to swell you have maybe 1-2 minutes to get it to a place it can burn.

On the other hand they offer way more power for less. They keep higher voltages longer, and are basically mandatory for more modern RC's that use brushless setups as they can put out way higher current.
Now a Hornet, and that f150... I'd argue they really are not needed as you would gain probably a few more minutes of run time only, and they could also negatively affect the handling as they are way lighter, and the hornet is already kinda bouncy to begin with.

gawe22

OK cool, I will grab 2 ubecs. I think I am going to stick with nimh, figuring 2 packs for each vehicle at 5000mah each. will get the charger you said too. last question was do either vehicle come with parts that are known to fail or should be upgraded from the start, i.e. adding bearings or swapping any plastic parts with metal replacements? that might sound dumb, just not sure...

SyCo_VeNoM

oooohhh completely forgot

Umm pick up some EC3, Traxxas, or deans connectors to replace the stock ones on the ESC, and battery(and for the charger). You will need male plugs for the ESC's, and charger, and female for the batteries. IMO EC3 are the easiest to solder, and the cheapest(last I looked) I use Traxxas on my RC's though as my 1st ESC was a Traxxas ESC, and had the traxxas connector on it so I just went with it.
The tamiya ESC's come with Tamiya connectors which are the worst piles of crap made. I've had the friggin things actually melt...

Other then that I'd run em stock I don't remember what sized bushings the hornet has
Might also want to get the hornet some grasshopper tires as the pins on the hornet ones kinda suck, and wear down fast if it goes on concrete at all. The Grasshopper tires are ribbed, and get better traction on most surfaces.

As for metal replacements.... I can't say I know of any for the hornet. The F150 I've never touched so can't say for that.

gawe22

OK cool will do, so I guess run them both stock for now and see where it takes us...fixing/upgrading part of the gig anyway...

RustyUs

Here is another option if you don't won't to use a separate BEC for the TEU-101BK ESC in the Hornet... Fly Sky FS-GR3F receiver. The new FS-GR3F receiver can now accept up to 8.4 volts of power to muscle the new high voltage servos that you got.

If you use a UBEC, you will not get the full potential from those D771 Solar High Voltage servos. You will only get 6v sent to them. Using a 6 cell NiMh pack and a FS-GR3F receiver... your servos will receive 7.2 volts.

Sorry... I didn't know the kits came with ESC , and thought you had to buy one. And the voltage output on Tamiya's ESCs are without battery eliminator circuitry?... Why would they do that?

RustyUs

Bearings that are used in the Hornet:

• (1) 5x8x2.5 mm
• (9) 5x11x4 mm

Bearings for the F-150 are:

• (16) 5x11x4 mm
• (6) 5x8x2.5 mm

SyCo_VeNoM

Why cause its Tamiya lol
Same reason I believe it has LiFe low voltage detection Tamiya is weird.
What funny is some of the kits DO have a BEC built in the 104bk is probably the only ESC that they include that doesn't have it for some stupid reason. It does have a spare plug coming out of the ESC to plug into an eternal BEC though. Hell one model I own the one I bought came with the 104BK, and they released another on the same chassis with the 105 ESC (which does have a BEC) with a different shell.

gawe22

Is it possible the flysky I bought has the same receiver as the GR3? The picture looks exactly the same...

RustyUs

There are three different versions of the FS-GR3 receivers ... C,E, and F versions.
FS-GR3C=first generation
FS-GR3E=updated for better range
FS-GR3F=updated for more voltage

And I don't know about A,B, or D versions... never seen them, in case anyone asks.

gawe22

is it weird that I kind of like the holiday buggy too? wonder if I should have gotten that instead of the f150...

RustyUs

That is one of the most unique bodies I have ever seen. What would you call that?... a streched VW Bug?
Dude...you got the Tamiya "thing" good.
Kyosho just released a new one...Beetle 2014 Buggy Kit
Since this is the second time you are saying "instead of" ... maybe you should sell the F-150. Yes there are a lot of "instead ofs" that I bought over the years, but they all turned out to be good.

gawe22

lol I have always been the guy that wanted something different. I don't like the red or blue though...thinking white, orange, or yellow, crazy body should have a crazy color. need to get a bigger motor etc...I think I am going to return the ford to tower hobbies unless i can sell it here...

SyCo_VeNoM

Tamiyas are fun vehicles.
I have uhh 4 or so.
2 are set up to go umm 3-4X faster then they were designed for(DF-02, and TT01e)
But then again I had to make some parts for them, and do quite a few mods to keep em in one piece

RustyUs

It'll be quicker just to send back to Tower, I would think so. You'll just be out the amount of shipping, cause I don't think they pay for return shipping. But at lease you won't be stuck with something you are second guessing.