animaniac79

Back sometime in 2006, I acquired a Tyco RC Drift King as seen below.



The car was certainly impressive at speed and drifting and has been a lot of fun to play around with.

I was never really able to financially get into hobby cars, but this was certainly as close as I could get and it wasn't half bad.

All wheel Drive, wheels for both speed and drifting. Decent distance from the remote and really dealt well with punishment... Let me tell you, over the years, it's seen it's fair share of it.

Back in April of 2009, I decided the old toy needed freshening up.

It was all dirt filled. You could hear grinding in when the wheels turned and the four wheel drive wasn't working anymore so drifting the car was nearly impossible.

So I opened her up, cleaned her up and masked it off several several times and gave this car a hot new look... IMO.



The car was ready to rock again and its first time out... I flipped it over.... lol

No worries, the paint held up well and the car took off...

Oh yeah, to fix the four wheel drive, I had to epoxy the front axel to the front wheels. The system was a shaft with a plastic ball on one end with a small metal rod through the ball to lock it into the front wheel and allow it to pivot... issue was, the bar had ground out and the ball and pin were simply spinning in the wheel instead of turning it. So fixed them permanently in place and all four wheels were operational once again.

The car drifted better than it did on day one and here it is, September of 2015 and it's still going strong.

The battery has now shown its age the last few times I have driven the car. Yes the battery is very old. Its the original battery from 2006, not a bad life span if you ask me.

The charger wasn't the best setup. It did not regulate the charge in any way. If you left it plugged in over 8 hours... you were killing the battery... With that in mind though... still not a bad lifespan for the original battery.

Certainly got my money's worth out of this "toy" and its not done drifting yet.

I plan on getting a new battery for it soon, with a much better charger.

The reason I posted all of this was really for one reason. When I read over some of the older posts. There was a lot of bashing of this car and its capabilities.

It's certainly proven itself to me.

I know that there are cars that can perform better. But for the money and time... this "toy" wasn't a bad option.

It's still decently fast, drifts amazingly well and now, with my help, looks better doing it. IMO of course.

In conclusion:

I don't feel the car deserved all the bad credit it was being given. In it's own right, it's been an amazing machine.

Again, I know there is better options if someone wanted to get more serious about the hobby, but, that aside, there was no reason in my mind that someone interested in getting one of these cars should have been told not to.

Sure if someone was looking for "Hobby" grade and considering this car, they would do better to get the hobby cars instead of a "toy", but if someone was just looking for a decent RC with the options this car had, this was well worth every penny spent to obtain it.

That's my two cents anyhow. Thanks for reading. Sorry for the length.

Long Live the Drift Kings. lol

RustedRC

Looks good animaniac79. great way to breath some new life in to the drift king. the paint came out cool.

animaniac79

I appreciate the kudos. thank you.

I love customizing all sorts of things. Besides, the gawd awful stickers they placed on the car made it look more toy-ish and when I removed them, I almost left it plain orange. But the scratches and other blemishes pushed me to paint it.

I also custom painted these:







But the Drift King will probably be the only toy that I would prefer to hold onto. A bit easier to put into a cabinet and keep it out of the reach of my small ones. lol

RustedRC

Those power wheels came out good. nice touch.

animaniac79

Thanks. I like anything that allows me to get creative. I suppose thats why I play a ton of Minecraft. lol

So the Drift King will be getting new batteries and a new charger tomorrow.

Then it's off to the skate park for some smooth pavement for drifting with a drone to give chase and film the drifting action.

Gotta love old toys.

Mattel said in a chat that they stopped making Tyco products a while back. Never new that. I suppose that makes my car a bit of a collectible now. lol

RustedRC

yeah i think tyco merged with mattel in 98 or so. iv'e been thinking about trying out drifting some time in the future. nothing to extravagant just an entry level drifter to see if it sticks with me.
post up a vid of the drift king in action when you can.

animaniac79

Will do. This was certainly a good car to try out drifting. Even with the Drift King, Drifting takes some getting used to.

All I was able to do when I first got the car was 360's and 180's but couldn't hold a decent drift and from what I have heard, the hobby cars go much faster and can be a bit more in-depth when it comes to pulling off an effective drift.

Even though the Drift Kings are no longer out for purchase, at least not from what I am aware of being that the car/toy is now almost a decade old, there are other cheap toys that you might be able to pick up and give drifting a try with.

Cant speak for how good any of them are as the Drift King Sylvia is the only drifting car I have owned.

I will post a video of the car in action within the next two weeks. need to obtain the new batteries first but then need to find the time to get to the park to run the car and that usually has to wait till the weekend most of the time.

having a full time job can be a pain that way... lol

RustedRC

funny how work puts a damper on RC fun. when ever you get to it man. no rush.

animaniac79

I can not believe that there is a listing on ebay right now for the same Tyco Drift King I have now and the starting bid is $150.00. Just amazed.

RustedRC

some people ask crazy prices for things. at least you know about what you can ask for yours if you ever try to sell it.
i have had a radio shack frame buggy that needs a thing or two for a few years. back when i first got it some one on ebay was asking like 130.00 for one that they were trying to sell. now there is some for 20 and some even over 300.00. strange how prices change on these old toys like the weather. i guess some thing is worth only what some one will pay for it.

animaniac79

There has been a delay with getting the new battery and charger due to funds allocation... in other words... money going to other places than the battery and charger... lol

The plans are still there to get this done and do a drone chase with the drift king.

Don't loose interest just yet, as this will happen soon.

The good thing is, here in florida, the weather is getting cooler. Not cold, just cool... but if I can get a good cold snap, that should really help boost the run time to get a great run in. That's the theory anyhow.

Man I can't wait....

philbo427

Hey, nice job on the Drift King! Looks cool!

I have a couple of those. Do you remember where you got yours? I got mine years ago from A.C. Moore, which is no longer in business but is tied together with Home Goods and T.J. Maxx and I think one other store. They surprisingly sold a bunch of odd things, such as Dragon Action figures (They're not dolls!!!) I forget how much I paid. The one like yours I still have new in box, never used. The white Rx-7 is a little beat up from my son. We attached smoke bombs to the rear wing and made it do drifts and the wing got a little charred.

They were pretty cool cars and were a great deal at the time if you wanted to try drifting. If I'm not mistaken they came with a 540 motor. I saw one guy do mods on it, swapped in a better motor and some other things.

Good info on the axle construction and the fix! Thanks!

animaniac79

My pleasure, and thanks for the Kudos, Amazing what a little auto paint and time can accomplish. lol

The axle could probably be repaired better than the way I went about it, but I felt this was the best approach to being sure that it didn't fail again. It does seem to drift better though.

Still need to buy a new battery and charger for it. Been procrastinating on that a bit... But the plan is still very much alive and I am even prepared to replace the control board and remote at a later date if the issue I am having with it cutting off mid run... but the battery and charger are an easy place to begin.

I'll keep you posted. Sorry for the LONG delays between posts.

cameraboy5

Funny this was the first link I clicked on at RCU today. I also had one of those when they first came out and after about a year or so upgraded to a bigger, faster, stronger, so this car ended up on my shelf. About 2 weeks ago my 8 year old son was downstairs looking on the shelves and wonder what this one did. after explaining he wondered if he could give a try so we brought it down charged her up and now its his best friend. Makes me feel good that this car gets a new life as well as yours. I will also need to open her up for a good cleaning and maybe modify with a couple items (although limited) to give it an extended life. Happy to hear there are others out here who enjoy preserving the simpler things in life. Some of the newer rc items are so complex and expensive, you might as well buy the real thing for a few bucks more.
My son and I were recently at a national rc racing event to watch the pros and I was talking with one guy who only made it to the B main and has invested more than twice the amount that I have invested in my kart racing equipment that you actually sit in and drive which has also won me many regional and 1 national title. He said he had close to $5,000 invested. Again, more than my kart plus one extra frame and rims.
I guess if he is having fun is all that matters.

Happy New Years All!
Scott

animaniac79

Hello Scott,

Glad you found your way to the forum and my posting. I feel the drift kings, while still toys and not hobby cars, had a significant place above just being a toy.

The speed and drifting ability was matched by no other toy at that time and even today can rival any other toy grade drifter in both speed and drift performance.

Now, that's not to say they are the best at what they do, but they are certainly, IMO, a force to be reckoned with in the toy arena.

Only recently did I find out that Tyco was no longer in business. So parts for these cars are almost impossible to find. But I have visited a couple hobby shops and found that, after speaking with some of the hobbyists there, that it would be possible to replace components with other aftermarket parts.

Of course, some modifications would be needed and you'll have to consider, cost wise, if its worth the refurbishment or better to get a true hobby grade car.

For me, for now, its more cost effective to play with the Drfit King.

Recently though, I have ventured into the Drone, rather, the quadcopter arena. So the Drift king has again taken to sitting on the shelf.

I have not had time or money to get the replacement batteries for it yet, but it will come to pass eventually.

For your efforts, use a high quality grease for the gears only after you have thoroughly cleaned the parts inside.

it all comes apart pretty easily and with a little patience, you'll have back in one piece in no time.

Now the paint job, should you choose to paint it, will take a level of detail, patience and certainly time. I had to use a decent amount of tape to achieve the look you see on mine.

The spoiler does not come off... But you can remove it and simply melt the plastic to get it back on if you do remove it.

Be careful though, I warped the back a little when doing this. while is not that noticeable, my OCD punishes me for it. lol

Sand it down and remove the stickers with Goo Gone if you have it. If the car looks well enough without the stickers, don't paint it, But if you do paint it, use something that bonds to plastic. You may need to rough up the car a bit first with sand paper and then hit it with a sand-able primer so you can smooth it out again.

There are some REALLY nice colors out there that can really make the car stand out. I choose a more aggressive but natural street look for mine, but get creative.

It's a fun car, a decent project to undertake and in the end, the car will feel new again.

You'd be amazed how many people actually ooh and ahh over this "toy" now.