sheograth

First of all, this is not a thread to discuss the pros and cons of clones. If you have some anti-chinese diatribe to get off your chest, take it off RCU. If you feel the need to bash MCDs pricing, take it elsewhere. This thread is for the discussion about my (and anyone elses) findings about FS racing cars and trucks that they have driven. Not for speculation or a discussion of economics, politics, etc. It's sad that I need to write this warning, but this forum seems to need it.

My FS racing 4wd on road car came today, and it has been well over a month and a couple weeks since I ordered it. Keep that in mind if you are planning to order from www.oversizerc.com. Maybe it was a fluke, but mine took forever. In any case - On the outside of the box it said "Nitro 4wd Touring Car" which I thought was somewhat funny.

Upon opening the box, I found the transmitter antenna bent. The last section of it was pulled out and bent, as if on purpose to get it crammed into the corner it was in. I havnt replaced the antenna yet though it seems to have no effect on range or performance.

The car and body came with no damage, and there was a protective film over the body even though its pre-painted. Trimming seemed ok (though I had to trim the wells a bit more to allow steering motion to be free), and decals are provided on 2 separate sheets.

First thing I did was open up the radio box to charge the battery, but was slightly disappointed to find a holder for 4 AAs instead. I ran with those today, but will throw a 5 cell hump pack in later (the RX box is large enough to hold a lot of stuff thankfully).

Once all batteries were in the system, I powered it on to test everything out. There is a LOT of slop in the steering mechanism - something I'll have to work on later. There seems to be enough slop that I actually noticed it while driving. Another disappointing part of the steering system is that the servo mount bends profusely when the system is articulating. The servo is literally jumping around. I tightened the screws but it didnt help since the whole tray is poorly built and made out of really shoddy plastic. I plan to use some long metal stand-offs to mount the servo directly to the chassis in the near future.

The drivetrain (though I didnt open it up) seems nice, the center diff (and presumably the others) are helically cut and there are no plastic gears anywhere.

The throttle linkage was wrongly assembled from the factory, it just wouldnt open the carb fully no matter how I set up the radio and horn position. I had to disassemble the linkage, move some things around and reassemble it. It's still not a great linkage however, So much slop in the throttle end that no matter how you trim it it's still funky. Still, it all looks like stuff I can fix. The brake side of the linkage works fine and strongly.

Everything else seemed fine out of the box, alignment was fine, turnbuckles were all adjusted properly. So I put in some gas (25:1, 93 octane, klotz super techniplate)

I left the needles where they were, and went to start it. Didnt want to fire up immediately so I had to choke it, but once I did that it started on the first pull and hasn't given me trouble since. Idle adjustment was fine, I leaned the low speed a tad since it was sounding really wet and loppy.

Took it out into the road and began to drive it around. Steering seemed a bit weak and slow (in fact the servo cant even move the wheels at a standstill), but it got the job done. I will probably replace the servo with 2 hitec giant scale ones I have. (the front upper plate is cut for 2 servos and the mechanism allows it)

Acceleration is excellent, the 30cc engine has tons of torque and it just jumps off the line. Top speed seems great as well, but as the speed increases the car starts to turn to the right and spin out quite a bit. Turning radius is nice and tight, and the tires seem to fine (I was running on pretty well paved dry tarmac). Braking is spot on, very strong and very short distances.

One thing I did notice was some hesitation when opening up the throttle. From idle up to about 1/4 its responsive and strong, but then if I go WOT from there it bogs for a couple cycles and then spools up. Not a big deal but worth noting, it may clear up after a couple tanks

My girlfriend and I had reservations at a new seafood restaurant so I had to cut the run short, got through about 3/4 of the tank. Tomorrow I'll put another tank through to get it broken in and then I'll mess with tuning.

All in all I'm pretty pleased with it, it handles well and is really fast. It was a bit odd that the throttle linkage was such a mess from the factory and the steering servo mount needs to be looked at.

The radio is basically OEM AM junk, tomorrow I'll replace it with an FM aggressor I have lying around.

I paid $799 and got free shipping (guess I cant complain that it took a month and a half to get here)

If you're considering one I'd say go for it, but you do get what you pay for and it's not quite up to the overall quality many of the other cars I've worked with. Attached are some pics and a short video (unfortunately just of the noise, no running in the video - tomorrow I'll take a nice one)

http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...t=MVI_9305.flv

^^ Video

hellya

nice review.....So bacically replace the servo tray with alloy one ......and shuck the stock radio system....Ok makes me feel better now that my buggy is on its way

sheograth

Yeah thats a fair enough summary. Servo tray, radio, check linkages, and get a battery.

hellya

So you received the tunedpipe with the car too .......nice deal they want $ 180-190 at US dealers for that style pipe

http://www.oneillbrothers.com/rccar/.../jetpromcd.htm
http://www.davesmotors.com/store/product1338.html
http://www.largescalerc.com/Tunedpipes.html

$799 for the car with the pipe... delivered.......sounds like a good deal to me.

I dont like the wait but it seems like a fair tradeoff.......time will tell

sheograth

Yeah, the pipe is nice. Powerful and nice sounding.

browley

thats a good review

badz

My Feedback: (1)

Good review....keep us posted on how it goes...isn't a bad deal it seems for that price

hellya

splcrazy

thats a nice car , one of his products i also am intersted in , doesnt seem like much of a big deal , i initially expected the servos to be rubbish from the start , for the price of the car its common sense your not going to get top notch radio and servo equipment lol unless you want to fork out $3500 for the contrast neo brand cars lol , i dont think ill ever buy them because of the price alone , but the FS range is more for us average wage earners i guess and the FS range of products is pretty darn exellent for its price , im not complaining . I cant wait to buy one of his 4x4 monster truck gassers .

what does SHEOGRATH mean ? it gives me a mind boggle everytime i read your name lol

Foxy

Thanks for the report Sheo, nice write. I am desperately wanting to know the reasons for the width differences between the MCD and the FS. The deal-maker/breaker for me is going to be body compatibility. If they really are 430mm wide, as oversizerc says, then we have a problem, and the priority should be determining if we can use MCD spares to fix it.

sheograth

sheograth is a misspelling of "sheogorath" - who is a character from the Elder Scrolls. I started using it online years ago and it stuck, it doesnt mean anything to me anymore really. I just keep using it so that people from other forums know who I am..

Slammed

Great review also could you do a driving video LOL

Pro5thScaleDistributors

We have expanded our look in the 5th scale sector of the hobby and ofcourse not everyone can afford a Contrast or similar machine.
The china clones would be fine with some revised parts and layout of the design and build.
We have 20 units in stock that we have made some changes and upgrades on,these cars will be available within the next 2 weeks.
Besides the many changes we have made ,this version known as the CYCLONE GT 4wd comes with a clear unpainted body.
Keep an eye out ,you can find more information on the release date from any of our dealers web sites or stores.

Thanks

billzkustomz

sheograth you noob.. the reason why the servo wasnt moving the wheels was because you were not running 6 volts.. put a rx pack and see what happens

hellya

I hope they arent going to be $1000 plus vehicles.........hope it stays reasonable

clubin

shreograth, nice review, I suppose the of road stuff would have some of the same issues. Well done.

splcrazy

i will only buy it , if it the dealer is in australia , im not buying something from the states if its over a $1000.

hey sheograth lol the elder scrolls ? do you mean that game OBLIVION ? if so ive played that game too , bloody excelent game

rangerfredbob

My Feedback: (13)

4 alcaline batteries is 6 volts as is 5 nicd cells like in a reciever pack...

clubin

+1 on that ranger, alot of people don't know that alkalines are 1.5v and all rechargables are only 1.2v.

hellya

OK am I missing something???? 4 alka x 1.5 = 6V nicad 1.2 x 5 = 6V.......whats the plus 1??

Hey bill whats a noob????...is that someone who cant add Joke

clubin

OK +1 means you are rite and I agree with you and it is like a atta boy.

NOOB is a noobey or a new to somthing in this case he is refering to him being new to the hobby.

hellya, you are good in math +1 on that you're no noob. LOL

sheograth

Yea, I know my batteries lol. 1.5x4 = 6

RedcatRacing

I assume a lot of people dont have these yet. I say that because the 30cc engine that oversizerc is offering is just a cheap Chinese made no name engine. From the factory they cost about $50 less than the CY 23cc or about $60 less than the 26cc.

I would love to hear about what people think of the 30cc engine that comes with the FS cars long term. Do they hold up. How do they compare to CY etc...

Bang for the buck at first glance does seem nice, but if the engine does not hold up for more than a month, than I think that should be considered.

Darin

sheograth

EDIT: I probably shouldnt go there, touchy subject.

Rcgasserman

I'm sure there are many Zenoah fans out there like me that feel the same way about cy engines. The first thing I do when I get a car with cy is yank it and put a Zen on it.