Hello All ... this post is in hopes to update the current status of Smartechs and WHAT TO EXPECT WHEN EXPECTING (a car - not a baby)
I have a new Winner Sport 3 on it's way to me (2 Speed). I've been doing a lot of ready on this thread as well as the "Smartech" thread in the Nitro RC category. I have a few questions that I was hoping someone could answer.
I guess firstly - a general question - I'm looking for a good overview of the RC Car (nitro specifically) hobby, so I can begin to learn more about how some of the parts work and therefore anticipate problems I may encounter. so
1) anyone have a good link to a site that has a thourough background on Nitro RC's?
Next is that it seems that over the last year these smartech's have gone from an almost unheard of to having a cult following (that would be you guys
and I guess now me). It does seem there have been some improvements from the winner sport to the 2 and the 3. I guess the most considerable advancement is that the engine at first seemed to be almost guaranteed to fail, while the latest .15 (cxp? I have the cxo on mine) seems to have a better track record.
2) So - is it true some of the parts have been doing better.
3) which parts are still trouble parts. From what i can tell the clutch is still plastic and lends itself to melting. And the shocks still pretty much suck. The radio stinks but I did get a failsafe for now. The servo is not great.
THis leads me to the next thing. I saw on excell hobby it seems they have a greater range of parts than even a few months ago. For example on this page
http://excelhobby.com/excel_hobby_032.htm they have a set of aluminum shocks.
4) Is there a reason I have only seen poeple doing cross car hybrids with some of these parts still? Or is it just that they are that new? Is the replacement clutch on here still plastic and going to melt?
Lastly - I have heard the servos are weak, but I don't see those on the site. How do I know which servos will work with this car (very newbie question I'm sure) or are they fairly universal? I heard someone say get metal servo (I guess the arms). Is there a brand in particular that work wel with these buggies? Also - do you have to do this when you update the radio or can you do those two things seperately
Thanks for any replies