Hello!
 

Hello, everyone! I'm pretty fresh to the R/C world (excluding the $50 toys of course) and have had my first truck for a three weeks now. I stopped by a local shop and talked with the guys there for a while and asked if there was a good forum to join. The manager told me about this one so here I am.

I picked up a Redcat Caldera 10E (brushless) for $200, which was about what I wanted to spend on a first RC. The guy told me the truck could do about 35-40mph but I didn't believe him of course. Well, I took it home, charged it up and got it out into the parking lot of the apartment complex. Like a dummy, I hit the throttle to see what it could do and BAM!, right into the curb. I did not think the truck would be that fast... I busted the steering knuckle (stripped the screw out) and after a quick repair, took it out with a bit more caution. Even after busting the knuckle, the truck seems pretty durable and worth the 200 bones. I've probably logged about 5hrs on it now. The screw comes loose sometimes and I have to tighten it down but I'm waiting on a new knuckle from Redcat. Apparently, not a lot of RC shops in Houston carry Redcat parts.

Last week I bought a LiPo battery and charger (2s, 5000mah, 30c Venom) and did not notice that I need an adapter, so I bought that off ebay. The adapter came in last night and after getting the kid to bed, I hooked it up. The LiPo required a slight modification to the chasis (had to cut a notch with a dremel in the battery holder and frame lip) though. After finally getting it all set up (and the battery charged of course), I took it out for a spin and there definitely was a difference in power. I was originally thinking about getting a Nitro R/C but chose the brushless because after all, I am a beginner and I don't want to drop all that money and break it with the result of costly repairs. I'm happy with it but I'm already looking at what I can do to upgrade/mod the RC out. Eventually, I'll probably get a nitro but not right now.

What was everyone's first RC?

Ho-ho.... My first RC was a Megatech Megapro 1/18 buggy. It was a great machine and I even did my first race with it on a half-dead battery. It is the only and single reason I am a sponsored driver today; it motivated me to work harder, get better at driving, and fixing. Still remember doing complete rebuilds, sitting on newspaper in the kitchen....

Sponsored racer? How did you get into that?

Hello COMBAT, Glad your enjoying your RC. Im actually still without one but will get one fairly soon, just finishing up on research and its a good thing you joined here because a lot of helpful folks are about. Btw, how much runtime did that battery give you?

Honestly, I wasn't paying attention but the battery instruction booklet said that it could take 12 charge/discharge cycles to be at peak performance so I didn't really bother with it. I'll check it out tonight and time it for ya. The stock battery gave me about 15-20min tops of running it hard before it started to rapidly decline in power.

Oh I see, thanks because I am looking at getting longer runtime with a spare battery. I'll awaite your experiment.

It was the early 80's. I was an early teen. I got a used Sankyo dune buggy (there is a video of one on youtube), with a .21 plane engine and a 4 channel OS Cougar transmitter. My memories are of lots of effort, and little success at running the thing. Moved on to electrics soon afterward.

That 12 charge/discharge thing is true for NiMh's I remember one NiMh I had it was a 5000 mah pack 1st charges I got maybe 5 mins on a truck, after that it got longer till it was 20 mins or so till the pack died (was driving in winter on the streets, and RC fell into a pothole which was covered by a thing layer of snow that was filled with salt water due to the street cleaners). After that I said screw it and went lipo

Not sure but Venom recommends 12 charge/discharge cycles for peak performance on their LiPo's. Read it in the instruction manual. That being said, I just charged and ran with it, being careful not to discharge it completely and the charger I got has an automatic shut-off to prevent overcharging.

I did get plenty of time to compare the batteries (stock NiMh vs Venom LiPo) this weekend though. The stock battery gives me about 15min of bashing or about 20min of decent play time. The LiPo gives me another 10 minutes or so either way - not much added in length but the power difference is huge. After running the LiPo, the stock battery just seems so.... blah.

Love the quote Venom, "With great speed comes greater repair bills."

Here's my slight modification to the chassis. Had to cut out this portion so the battery would fit.
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/atta...mentid=2034229

seems pretty standard mod to make the lipos fit in a RC.
I think I only own 2-3 RC's that I haven't had to cut something, or modify some part to make a lipo fit
You would think after all this time RC designers would take the 3 major lipo battery designs into account when making battery compartments.(wire on top similar to stick pack, wire on side top, and wire on the front)

Yeah. The battery clips are not exactly stable on this model either. SOMEHOW, one of the pins came loose and a battery clip popped off while bashing at the park. No idea how it happened. Either way, I'm looking at $150 in replacement/upgrade parts soon. I'm looking to get the aluminum steering knuckles and lower A frame and now some replacement pins, body, and battery clips.

Personally I'd save the $130 and look either for a kit, or used roller on ebay of a better RC. But that is just me.

Good point. Any suggestions?

http://www.ofnawarehouse.com/product...k7jiuulaea00o2 that looks decent for its price (I think we have an owner on the forum) if you want new
the electronics you have should work.
I own 5 or so Ofna vehicles, and honestly one one of the models had one weak point that I fixed relatively cheap(the C-hob split in half).

I'm sure you could find used rollers on ebay in the price range.
Other then that there are Tamiyas in that range, but IMO the Hyper STe would smoke them in durability.

My first RC was an RC10, now I won't touch anything unless it has at least 30.5cc and is fully modded, or flies and has at least a nice twin.

My first RC car was a Traxxas Nitro Sport. Immediate swap to a Pro .15 engine and stinger exhaust and that forever sealed my fate. No electrics for me. I now have 2 - 1/8 MTs and 2 - 1/10 STs, 5 scratchbuilt airboats, and 2 airplanes. All glow engine powered. Glow engine is what a 'nitro' engine really is.

If LiPo was a common item back when I started in RC, I might have started out with an electric.

Welcome, Combat Wombat! (I like that screen name) And if I take the inference right, and you're a soldier, thank you for your service!

I got started in RC just a few years ago with a Duratrax Evader. I think it's a great car to learn on, and modify. Does a great job off road, or on. Not that, like most RTRs, it didn't need a little modification to make it really durable. WHY they don't put a proper bumper set on a car meant for newbies is beyond me! The best thing you can do for an Evader is buy a set of T-Bone Racing bumpers for it. A 2wd stadium truck is a great way to learn the hobby. They're simple, easy to work on and can be really fast, if you upgrade them to brushless/Lipo.

After a couple years, tho, I got a hankerin' for something 4wd, but still about the same size as the Evader. I got one of these: http://www.eofna.com/OFNA-110-Hyper-...it_p_5060.html It says "kit" but is really an "80% Roller". Meaning, it's fully assembled, you install your own motor and radio electronics, and paint the body. Again, get a T-Bon Racing bumper set!! I was breaking suspension arms until I put proper bumpers on the thing, Haven't broken anything since.

BTW, Syco, your link 404'ed. Some of my Ofna Warehouse links did too.

Thanks, you're right and you're welcome! I got the nickname from a fellow Seabee while in A-School. I got nicknamed the Combat Wombat because of my fuzzy ears and take charge attitude (from Battlestations in Boot).

I'm liking the Caldera 10E and have been thrashing it pretty good. A friend of mine had a front end collision with a wall and destroyed the body but everything else is fine. The bumper is pretty solid! I wrote Redcat about the issues with it and asked if there were better models with corrections to some issues but I have not seen a response. I'm considering taking SyCo's suggestion and buying a good roller (with an aluminum frame maybe) and building it up. I'll keep the Caldera for thrashing.

How much run time do you get out of a tank of Nitro? This 20-30min crap with a 2hr break is starting to get on my nerves, lol.

Well just looked they must have JUST changed their domain name to eofna.com, and they changed the page names, and layouts...

http://www.eofna.com/OFNA-110-Hyper-...it_p_5060.html is the one I was linking to

That varies on the RC size, engine size, tank size, and how much throttle you give

For instance my MT2 which had a 75CC tank would get 30 mins on a .15 engine
My savage X with a .28cc engine and a 150CC tank would get 20 mins
My buggy which also has a .28cc engine, and I think 150cc tank got like 25 mins.
That was moderate driving
Now if you like doing speed runs with going full throttle a lot you will get less time.

Basically like for my MT2 I would get over 25 hours of run time for a gallon of nitro
My savage would get about 8.5 hours of run time with the same fuel amount

Now if you have a hobby shop nearby you can buy nitro from then its ok, but if you have to order it I wouldn't recommend it as you have to have it shipped hazmat if I remember right which adds a lot onto shipping

Solution: Buy a few more batteries. If you got two more, got them all charged up, by the time you run the first one out and get it on the charger, you'll have the other two to run with, and by the time they run out, the first one will be charged and ready. I have FIVE, so I never run out when my buddy comes up for a race day.

Remember to Storage Charge your Lipo when yer done for the day. Keeping them fully charged all the time is not good for them.

Thanks everyone. After running the 10E for a few months, I've finally come to a final determination: Redcat is crap. Should have got a Traxxas but hey, live and learn right?

What Traxxas you thinking about?
I'm in the market for a 4wd 1/10 scale something. I'm just not sure at the moment with companies coming out with new items and discontinuing others.

Yes, the price of some things/brands is very attractive. I learned that 1/8th scale is not for me, but I did it on a very low budget sort of way finding out steel is not always made the same.

My first hobby grade RC was the mid 80's The Frog. I have always been interested in RC since...uhh...the 70's:o