Hi Everyone, I wanted to share my scratch build in case anyone else has been temped to do this kind of thing. I've read a lot of posts from people wanting to scratch build but not knowing where to start or if it is even possible at all, I was curious myself. My goal of this project was to see if I could make a fast, reliable and cheap RC that could perform better than the other options on the market in the sub $200 category. It had to be brushless with a lipo setup and have a full suspension. It also had to be built using a material that I could cut on a scroll saw as well as drill and tap easily. Finally it had to be cheap, i previously had a Traxxas Stampede that I picked up at a garage sale for $10, unfortunately with a 4000kv, 1200watt brushless motor I kept breaking parts and spending a fortune to keep upgrading it. If I wanted to stay in the hobby I had to be able to make replacement parts myself.

I researched cars from a bunch of manufacturers and looked at their parts support and pricing and decided to rummage through the Traxxas parts bin. Traxxas has been so popular for so long that a lot of their replacement parts are very cheap and readily available. A bunch of their 2wd trucks and cars also share the same drivetrain which helps even more. I then for more cost savings decided not to use the whole transmission but rather just the differential. This helps in two ways, it deleted a case, shaft and spur gear that I would have to buy and it changed the KV requirements. That last part was crucial as it meant I could use out-runner brushless motors which due to the popularity of multi rotors are generally cheaper than the equivalent in-runner. The lower KV, high torque out-runner was perfect for the direct drive setup .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOH14jTtxl0 The results have been great (after some messing around). The motor and transmission (diff, idler and steel pinion) have performed flawlessly, as have the drive axles. My first car used an all 1/4" ABS plastic construction and while it handled pretty well it was constantly breaking control arms and other small parts. For the second car I used a combination of ABS, Nylon and Nylatron GSM and if you watch the video you can see that it really paid off. I still have more parts that I want to switch over to Nylon but its getting very close. It takes a lot of punishment before anything breaks. I also learned my lesson with using super glue to thread lock most of the fasteners, it is a must and has contributed to the reliability greatly. The performance is exactly what I wanted, it can overwhelm mediocre tires at nearly any speed on any surface, can throw great rooster tails and most importantly is better than anything I could buy for the sub $200 price point which included a nice lipo charger and Turing digital radio. Please let me know what you think of the project, you can also follow the build of prototype 3 on twitter @flatpackcars if your interested.


The white that you see on the car is stickers that I use for templates that I never removed (laziness) but this is a test car and just meant for that.

Nice story. I would think its pretty satisfying to be able to do this on your own. Thou I must ask since part of the project was to keep costs low, how much was the equipment that you used? For someone like me who really has no tools it would probably cost a lot more then a new truck plus plenty of parts so I'm just curious. Also how do you mount a body on there?

Cetme308, its not actually as involved as you think. I used two basic things, a scroll saw and a cordless drill. if you have patience you could very easily use a $10 coping saw instead of the scroll saw which are about $120 on the low end new. In regards to the parts that I used on this specific car I have listed them below. With the body I'm not quite sure, the suspension towers offer some options and I put a SCT body on it the other day and it looked alright except for the width of the wheels was too wide. I'm thinking on the next prototype of building more of an exoskeleton of plastic around it and leave it as more of a sand rail.

$22.05 NTM Prop Drive Series 3548 900kv Brushless
$28.46 Turnigy TrackStar 1/10th scale 60amp
$13.19 5x11 Bearings x12
$15.00 Traxxas 2388X Differential (Traxxas Slash)
$3.00 Traxxas 3696 Idler Gear (Traxxas Slash)
$8.00 23t 48p 5mm pinion gear
$6.00 Traxxas 1951 Drive Shafts (Traxxas Slash)
$5.00 Traxxas 2753X Stub Axles (Traxxas Slash)
$4.00 Traxxas 4628R Differential output yokes (Traxxas Slash)
$36.00 Traxxas 3760A Shocks x2 (Traxxas Slash)
$3.00 Traxxas 3637 Front Axles (Traxxas Slash)
$6.00 Traxxas 3654 12mm hub hex x2
$9.96 Tower Pro metal gear servo
$18.12 Cheap wheels and tires off Amazon

$177.78 Total

Plastic cost is less than $10 even at the very low quantities I am buying it at.

What batteries are you using?

DieHarder, good to see someone else in West Michigan, I'm in Grand Rapids. I'm using Zippy Flightmax 20C (30C burst) 3s 3000 mah. They are cheap and I haven't puffed one yet. I get about 20 minutes a pack, I'm sure I could get it down to 10-12 if I was really pushing it.

Watched the video.. so you hang out in parking garages for giggles? Haha. Well, some would say that your first issue was that you had a traxxas and they make them cheap so you keep buying replacement parts. Anyway, have you experimented in making larger or cars with wider wheel base to see if they handle better? How big can you go? 1/8 or even 1/5?