Kit building - how hard is the process?
 

Hello,

I am a complete newb with just my first RTR in hand.

Is there I chance I could start building a kit from scratch???

As I see it building a project offers much more insight and knowledge to the hobby. It can also be done in a slow pace as far as investing time and money goes.

Last thing I would wish for however would be an incomplete kit laying around in some closet...

I would just love to end up with an Associated B44.2 in a year or so and this is the kit I' m looking at.

What's your opinion guys?

the instructions help a lot. but the only issue i have seen with some people builing a kit is they go mad with tightening things up like it was a real car and then having to glue everything.

It's a fairly popular kit and there's lots of info everywhere.

If I can get it for a fair price locally I guess I should expect help from them...

I find kits pretty easy personally it takes me usually 2 hours tops to build them, but I've seen people spend 8 hours+ on the same kits.
Only once did I not finish a vehicle the same day I started it(my SCX10), but that wasn't due to me one of the needed parts were malformed in the box, and I had to wait for a replacement from the company to continue.

But as for difficulty most the instructions I've seen are usually well documented, and most have actual size pictures of the screws needed that you can hold screws up to it to get the right size. As long as you don't empty all the bags into a box at once, and only take the parts you need for the step there should be no issue.

That's good news!

I would really like to take my time when I start some project. It's a great way to learn things.

Well, share some personal experience.
I just build a TAMIYA TT01 TypeE drift car, just saying, I am a totally beginner.
It took me 5 hours to finish the kit
TAMIYA has some really good instructions to follow once you are a beginner

I've known people who bought an RTR, then took it all apart and put it back together again, just so they'd know how everything goes together and how everything works. It's not a bad idea. Tommy, I hope you ditched the crappy battery connector Tamiya uses in all their stuff. Those things cannot handle Lipo. Or even 7-cell Nimh.

or even 6-cell NiMh ;)
had one melt on my nephew in his pede (old pede which had the tamiya connectors guess it came out prior to traxxas connectors)

IMO building kits it's nearly as much fun as driving... Sometimes more...

Tamiya kits are the best. There instruction are very similar in layout to Lego instructions.

best tips for building from a kit.... Take your time... Its a learning curve. Don't worry about how long it takes...

One thing I highly recommend is YouTube... There is basically a how to video on everything, even build series of some popular models
for things like:
filling up the shocks with oil
filling up the diff with oil
adjusting the slipper
adjusting the gear mesh
running in nitro motors
i would recommend reading the manual but also watching a how to video.

One thing I've done in the past and still do... Before I buy a car I generally download the manual first to have a look and familiarise my self with the vehicle and most importantly factory upgrades.... Some vehicles have little cheap upgrades that are worth fitting as u build it. Example.. TiN coated suspension pins....and for 1/10 Tamiya stuff there is things like carbon gear shafts, hardened diff yokes, steel gear pins and in some cases alloy bellcranks, and servo mounts.... Generally no matter what car there is always something