when did you get into rc cars?
 

let us know ? im interested to hear from each of you?

when did you get your first rc model? what was it? do you remember your first? second? third? etc,,,? i thought it might be interesting to hear the great stories from our members and friends about how you got started? when? what were some of your memorable models? which ones did you love/hate? did you race any? how did you do with the different ones? most success?

mine were something like this, but probably not in this exact order.

grasshopper,,,,,,,,, boing boing boing.

falcon,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, might have been my first oil shock car.

first edition ae rc10,,,,,,,,crazy tranny. crazier diff. no slipper. state of the art.

some crazy kyosho buggy. mid motor, 2wd, terrible on the track.

blackfoot

losi jrx2,,,,,,,,,,,,, wierd rear susp. setup. like little swingarms. veyr plain flat chassis but very good handler.

kyosho outlaw rampage gas truck

schumacher gas truck.

rc 10 graphite.

traxxas nitro hawk. one of the very first ones ever sold to the public. i also saw this truck being tested before anyone in the public knew it existed.

rc10 team car,,,,,,,,,,, 1st model with a 3 gear tranny, the stealth. also 1st ae black alum. chassis

rc10t team truck, when they first came out.,,,,,, out of all the cars i raced at the track, i was best with this one by far. dominated with it for several years. pretty much every weekend 1st amain for 3?-4? yrs???

losi lxt,,,,,,, losis top race truck pre xx or xxx series.

losi xxt-cr,,,, raced this one for several years with so/so success.

losi xxxt,,,,,, i was faster with the xxt, and went back to it, raced against the xxt trucks and won my fair share.

losi xxxt mf1,,,,,,nice race truck

losi xxxt mf2,,,,, i liked this one a lot, and with younger eyes and reactions probably would have done as well with it as i did my rc10t 20yrs earlier.

losi xxx-nt adam drake,,,,,, sucker was fast fast fast, but i guess im just an electric guy. sold it.


so ive been in this game for quite some time. 25ish years????? wow.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

my first car was the tamiya fox then the black foot and then so many more over the years

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

I just got into the hobby a few years ago, was introduced to it by my cousin and have been hooked ever since...

First car was actually two RC10GT's both the old school black tub that I bought off of craigslist, then converted one to an all alum. dual chassis with OS .18 that runs like a beast even with all the alum weight


Second was a NTC3 and himoto truck that my cousin gave to me for free

Then bought my first new RC8 RS RTR

Mini MGT 3.0

Another rc10gt with newer blue chassis from a member on here

MGT 4.6 also from an RCU member

Duratrax Evader ST

Traxxas Nitro Sport

And then just this year I got into electric RC's and my collection is now...

AE B4.1

SC10

SC18

B182/T182 factory kit

And another rc10gt that was converted to electric that I got from an RCU member

And soon to be RC8e and possibly an Ve8

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

thats some pretty darn good selections.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Oddly enough, ThunderbirdJunkie got into this in 1995 with a Traxxas Stampede. Raced the MT class for a bit with it (dominated by Blackfoots, go figure), bashed it, and got an RC10B2 when they came out and started racing mod buggy. Got into 2w truck very briefly, and mostly bought those for cheap and sold 'em to make a few bucks; had a ton of Ts, T2s, and T3s. Got out of racing in '00 or '01 (the B2 was still competitive[X(]) and started bashing almost exclusively. Got back into racing in mid/late 2010 and honestly haven't driven much RC outside the track since then. Now that it's getting warm it's time to get the Savages out and give them the thrashing they deserve.

Pretty sure RCU would crash if ThunderbirdJunkie posted all the cars he's had over the years.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

I would say probably around '87 or '88 (5-6 years old). I've loved anything motorized, particularly that you have control over, ever since I can remember. If it was mechanical in any way I was probably going to take it apart too.

My early RCs (remote control in this case, not radio), were very toy grade. They were the cheap (both inexpensive and build quality cheapness) AA powered deals that had a small square remote with a wire that connected to the car, and subsequently directly to the motor inside. The remotes housed 2 AA batteries and had either two buttons or maybe a rocker switch which gave foward and reverse movement respectively. Some had a slotted axle housing on one side in the front so that they turned when going in reverse. All very crude and simple, but they were fun. Of course they all got taken apart eventually, and parts got swapped around and larger motors (taken from whatever else I had taken apart over the years) got crammed in, and modifications got made.

Eventually I got a small black Trans Am that was actually radio controlled. It actually had less control than the wired versions up to that point. The remote had a single button on it. The car would automatically run forwards when you turned it on, and the button would make it reverse, turning at the same time (slotted axle style). I still loved it.

After that came a few other vey crude models until I finally got my first radio control with full contro (forward/backward and left/right capability). It was a Tyco on-road car that ran on 4 AA batteries and I loved it. It really was nice, two speed transmission, handled well for what it was, and was much faster than anything I'd had before. Then I had a Hopper (Tyco), a couple Radio Shack cars that were merely OK, and then a Nikko truck that was probably my favorite toy grade vehicle I had owned. It wasn't fully proportional, but it did have two speeds on the controller. I ran on 6 AA batteries and lasted a long time on a set. The range was awesome and my cousin and I would set it outside on cold days and go back inside and drive it around the yard while looking out the windows.

Eventually I got my first Hobby grade vehicle, a Traxxas Rustler XL-1. They had just switched to using an electronic speed control. It was great. I upgraded some things as I went, but mostly I just drove it. Then I got a TC3, put in an LRP ESC and a 17 turn motor. Very fun parking lot basher.

Since then I've had a string of models. My next being a B3 Factory Team car, my first kit (I have greatly preferred kits ever since). Lighter, and faster than my Rustler, and the handling put it to shame. I bashed it hard and never had a problem. Still have it, though it is sans electronics at the moment, along with my TC3.

Beyond those I've had/have:

RC18B
HPI Micro RS4 (1/18)
RC8B
Mini-Desert truck
Micro-T
Tamiya CC-01
Tamiya CR-01
Robitronic Scalpel
Kyosho Evolva 1/8th on-road nitro
Mini Summit

That's all the hobby grade stuff I can remember at this point.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

I got started in 1979....with a Cox intercerptor.

1980....Firefox.....a toy

1984.......Tamiya Superchamp

1985.......Tamiya Frog

2010....Tamiya Frog Re-release

2011....Original Tamiya Blackfoot...which I was just bashing last night when the Traxxas ESC broke.....

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Started in the mid 1980s
1st Car Kyosho Icarus
2nd Kyosho Optima
3rd Kyosho Rocky
4th Bolink on roard car. I don't even remember the model
I lost interest and came back into it in 2010
5th car Traxxas Rustler XL-5
6th Kyosho DBX VE

I have now refurbished my original Icarus, with the exception of rear wheels and tires.. If anybody has any let me know.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Bought my first in 1985, an origonal RC10, still have it.
Got addicted to racing carpet oval in 1988 and been racing ever since. Bashing doesn't do anything for me.
Still doin carpet racing in the winter, off road and dirt oval in the summer. Don't plan on giving it up anytime soon.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

lol, ya i remember those. i had several.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

<div><div>timeline goes something like this</div><div></div><div>introduction to RC racing: 1992/93. my cousin was racing 1/10 off road</div><div></div><div>from 93 to 97 researching, drooling, dreaming and running a tyco lamborghini countach</div><div></div><div>my freshman year of high school 97/98 i bought my firsthobby grade car. a kyosho stadium baja</div><div></div><div>Christmas1998 tamiya mini cooper (M03 chassis)</div><div></div><div>sometime in early 99 i bought a used bolink eliminator for $20 off a guy in my wood shop class</div><div></div><div>sometime before the summer of 99 i bought a new RC10T3</div><div></div><div>i forget the years im guessing 2000/2001 my brother bought a truck that was new to the market called the XXXT. he built it, ran it for about 6 months and parked it cause he couldn't drive and didn't want to maintain it</div><div></div><div>June 2001 i bought a used kyosho nitro something or other and HPI nitro RS4 2 in a 2 cars for $150 deal from the same guy i bought the bolink from</div><div></div><div>November 2008 i bought the used dust covered XXXT from my brother</div><div></div><div></div><div>favorite off road was the T3</div><div>favorite on road was the mini cooper (which i still have and do still run)</div><div>least favorite was the HPI. those nitro star .15's sucked!</div><div>i ran nothing but trinity speed gems 2 motors. good reliable performance for a wapping sum of $30 a pop. still running 2 of them</div><div>favorite battery's. some home brew 1200 nicd sanyo's</div><div>favorite radio. hitec lynx FM</div><div>favorite esc. duratrax streak. cheap, reliable, 12 turn limit</div><div>favorite bash spots over the years (in no particular order):</div><div>1) the park next to the church parking lot. baseball fields, grass, dirt, smooth asphalt, ruff asphalt, you can run anything there. and if you park by the church the riff raff leaves you alone</div><div>2) the dirt lot by my friends house when it had the 8 foot pile of dirt on it.(that place just sucks now, not that it matters you can't run there anymore)</div><div>3) "the hill"(also my favorite skate/BMX spot)just a 5 foot high pretty steep paved hill. also some speedbumps to hit as well (running there is a craps shoot now)</div><div>4) the BMX trails along the ditch. fun but dangerous place to bash, if your truck went under the fence (which it could do in several places)it was gone.(you also didn't wantto get caught by the cops inthere)</div><div>5) the park at the end of my street. (running there is a craps shoot now)</div><div>6) the old autonation parking lot. after they went out of business that parking lot ruled!</div><div>7) "pan car paradise" aka my old elementary school playground. flat and perfectly smooth chunkof asphalt bigger than a football field. (can't really run there anymore)</div><div>8) the end of the river off the bike trail. very dangerous place to bash, but fun as hell. water risk (if it goes in its gone), big rock risk, lost in the weeds risk, gang activity risk, dumbass teenagers on skateboards risk (its also a skate spot) and its about a10 mile bike ride to get there.</div><div>9) the street in front of my friends old house. high traffic risk but lots of good curb action and some nature made sidewalk jumps. just watch out for parked cars and tree's.</div><div>10) the street in front of my house. can't really run there anymore ether. to many parked cars, idiot kids, if its nitro the neighbors get all pissed. and you had better stay off there lawn</div><div>11) my backyard. iv had a few tracks built back there over the years. but sense then the house has been added on to and the yard is now half the size. to small and to much risk of property damage</div><div></div><div>iv lost a few of those places sense i first started running there do to other people not respecting the property and making to much noise. damage to backstops, curbs, plantsand the constant noise from nitro's. people got pissed off. another case of a few idiots wrecking it for everybody. oh well, i still have my memory's</div></div>

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

"ʎɐqǝ ɟɟo pɹɐoqʎǝʞ ɐ ʎnq ı ǝɯıʇ ʇsɐl ǝɥʇ sı sıɥʇ"  lol love this

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

haha, ya. funny stuff

i saw it on a youtube video comment and stole it.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

1999 when i was 7, started out with a tamiya stadium blitzer kit, i still have it also, not letting it go.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

wish i had been as smart. i made the mistake of buying AND trading up through all the ones ive had. i should have kept every one i ever bought.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

I've had toy r/c's all my life, but I got my first hobby grade in 1991. It was a Tamiya Blackfoot. I started racing it in 1992. I've never really been much into racing though, I'm a basher. I also got my first plane in 1992.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Until 2005 I had boring RadioShack rc cars that would be unreparable as soon as you crashed them.</p>

Sick and tired of it, I SPLURGED for a hobby grade rc, the Associated RC18MT, GREAT little car!

Broke that car, and my Hobby Shop said they couldn't get any more parts for that car, and said it would not be worth it to try... end of RC18MT.

Years later, I wanted to get back into the hobby, so I bought a Rustler VXL. Awesome car.

Here I am now, with a newly purchased Slash 4x4 and an E-FLITE Blade SR (helicopter!) on the way as I'm starting to get into that hobby, too!
</p>

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

I got started in 1984(14 yrs old) Tamyia Fast Attack on never been out of rc since. Watching the advancement over the years is truly amazing.. I recall when 3000 mah nicad was top of the line!! Now thats funny!

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

i started when i was just a little kid, cant ever remember how old i was.<div>
</div><div>
</div><div>I had the choice between two cars.</div><div>
</div><div>i could get one on the spot that only went forward and turned left or i could wait til next week for a fully proportional rc.</div><div>
</div><div>Of course i chose the one on the spot  :P</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Then i had lots of little toy grade rcs until i got my first hobbygrade rc in 2007 when i got a tamiya plasmaedge, (dfo2)</div><div>
</div><div>loved and abused that for a few years until i finally decided on a new rc,  </div><div>
</div><div>a tamiya dark impact, (df03)  well i had that running for about 2 months until i trashed its ball diffs and shocktowers etc.  (the beauty of not knowing how to maintain ball diffs)</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>so i sold them both on the web and bought a hpi blitz,  great truck,  upgraded to brushless and lipo, awesome.   Unfortunately i have no parts support in nz for anything other than tamiya, kypsho or ae.   so that went beyond the point of fixing,  sold that.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>bought a second hand tamiya m01 and m03 from the web.</div><div>
</div><div>put in a 12t ezrun bl into the mo1 and wrecked the gears  :P</div><div>
</div><div>decided to try racing the m03, onroads not my thing, too many hard objects to break stuff :P</div><div>
</div><div>sold the mo3 and kept the mo1 just to have one.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>now i have a tower hobbies power vee boat working and in brand new condition.  (unfortunately i broke the prop in shallow water so i need a new metal one)</div><div>
</div><div>im looking at a new rc, has to be offroad,  most likely going to be 4wd and mabye scale, (im thinking either axial scx10 or something a little unique)   that would be cool..</div><div>
</div><div>LoL im just geting sick of stuff breaking so im going with the slow rcs now,  scale trail trucks or solid axle mts.</div>

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

In '04 I got some money in. Decided I was done with charging batteries for an hour to get 15-20 minutes of donuts and for the toy grades I had at the time failing often, so I went with a hobby-grade nitro. Haven't looked back since.


I still have that truck. It's not really useable at the moment though.

If you want to count 1/24 scale proportional indoor cars as hobby grade(I don't just because they're designed to bomb around the house and aren't fast at all) then I got into RC even earlier, around 01 or 02, when I snagged a Mini-Z Overland. I wish I knew what happened to that thing, it just up and disappeared one day. I bought a second one before I lost the first one, a Mitsu Pajero, that one succumbed to a known fault of Overlands at the time where one of the four servo leads comes desoldered. That, too, got lost.

If you want to count the toy grades then I had my first RC in 1993, and if you really want to nitpick I can sorta remember driving my dad's old Frog when I was one or two. But that memory is five seconds of the rear suspension in my hands, so I can't tell you 100% whether I actually drove it or not.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

TYCO HI-JACKER was my first RC back in the 1980's , If anyone knows where I can find one, please let me know. :)

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Started with a Nitro MT1 in April 1999 over paid on it $100 in piss poor shape
Bought a box of parts off craigslist for a nitro MT1 for $50, I assembled a complete nitro MT1 out of it(and stil had a pile of spare parts) that was in better shape than the one I got for $100. Later converted to electric, (then scrapped it last week ;))
Bought a used Savage X
Got a Nitro RS4 roller (scrapped it)
Decided to get an electric to run with my nephew (I drove over his stampede with my savage [:@] when he decided to race me, and cut me off)
Foolishly bought a Brama 10b. Sank a ton of cash into it trying to make it not suck. Failed miserably
Losi Micro High Roller
Got a Tamiya DF-02 (one of my favorites)
Got a Jammin X1x CR
Got a Ofna CRT.5 pro kit, and a electric motor mount for it. (needed something to slap my BL motor in)
Built a buggy out of scrap parts (and promptly scrapped it seeing it was a horrendous failure)
Got a Savage .21, and converted it to electric
Got a Jammin X1 CRT, and converted it to electric to use my MM esc in seeing it sucked in the savage [:@]
Got a Stampede (which I turned into a weird monstrosity :D)
Got a Monster XX (bootleg DF-02)
Built a Rally car out of MT1, MT2, super nitro RS4, Nitro RS4 rally, and original nitro RS4 parts
Bought a 1/16 E-revo roller (no idea why I barely use it)
Got a RC tank (ok not a offroad truck)
Redcat Sumo stadium truck
Got a Hornet then (yes after all the above :D)
Wheelie king
Built a tank truck hybrid
Tamiya TT-01 (just finished building it, still needs a body)

Also trying my hand at making a 1/10th scale buggy out of various parts currently again learning from my past mistake, and not trying to recycle Brama 10b parts :D

Think I missed one in that list somewhere

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

i first drove my uncle's rc's in the late 90's or early 2000's, before 2004 for a fact (i know because he had rc's before he got a tmaxx which was a high school graduation present). it was either his rc10 goldpan, kyosho ultima (both of which i owned), t3 or some other st.

my first hobby grade was an evader ext i got in early '08. that was followed by an axis (8th scale nitro buggy), i gave it back to my uncle and traded the engine to him for the rc10 and ultima (i got the rc10 running but the ultima never did), i bought a second gold pan from the owners of one of the hobby shops for $20 (it was in better condition as far as i could tell), then i went to the dark side... i bought a nitro sport. i actually liked it, the engine wasnt to fiddly and it at least worked for the summer. i trashed it over the winter of '09-'10 by being an idiot. after 8+months of not running an rc, i bought my first kita tamiya df02 gravel hound with an s&d futaba 2pl 2.4gig system in July (payed the express shipping with sat. delivery so it arrived on my b-day). couple weeks later i bought a new charger and 2 battery packs, a week or 2 after that i picked up a new esc (fried stock with an apparently high draw motor) and it really moved! ran that thing the rest of the summer and every now and then over the winter. a few weeks ago i ordered 2 ext2's and i got my first taste of bl/lipo.the bl/lipo came first and i tested it in the df02 and it was intense! the thing kept flipping and cartwheeling (that has a lot to do with the condition of our driveway and the fact it was about 9 o'clock pm and in the 20's outside). now the bl is in its proper home, in one if the evaders.

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

Whatever year the rc12i was released, then a frog, then a RC10 team edition as soon as it was available, still have 2 12i's and the rc10. I started out in boats, really liked the indoor carpet racing in the winter,would lo return to that in the winters but really don't have the time. Offroad just never really turned my crank, still like to rip the buggy around a few times a month though.
I still am an avid boater, have 9 or 10, both nitro and electric.
Should look into some outdoor touring car stuff for the summer, as long as it's not on boating sundays!

RE: when did you get into rc cars?
 

i started in 1984with a tamiya subaru brat and a challenger 2 stick radio. i turned the brat into a frog and bought a junk hirobo 4wd and grafted the rear suspension off of the hirobo onto the frog so it wouldn't have the axle stripping problem( tamiya used hex dive axles back then and the hirobo used dogbones) then i got a rc10 and the difference in racing was like night and day. then on to newer cars as they became available.