kram67

Ive been more into the helicopter and the airplane side of RC and now want to get a car. I was considering the Savage 25 but am now leaning more toward a gas powered car like the Firehammer. Any suggestions or thoughts from anyone? I guess the Firehammer is a pretty durable and fun car? Or maybe I should just wait for the Baja 5B? Im woondering if these cars are worth the high initial price as compared to a nitro.......anyways just thinking?

tizdaz

Compared to Nitro ..gas (petrol) power are in a class of they're own :-)

No messing about trying to tune your engine over & over, more power & the obvious.. MUCH bigger :-)

As for which type.. when it comes to buggy's i cant comment as i dont have one (i have the MB Pro) but im sure others on here will give you a pointer, afaik the FG Leopard (race) is the best one to go for atm & as for HPI baja, its a whole new game as its the 1st time HPI have entered this end of the market, so time will tell :-) I think the main problem with the FH is getting spare parts, FG parts/spares/hop-ups are easy to get hold, but ive heard FH are not so easy?

I was in the same boat as you about 1 month ago, i was going to get the LST & hop it right up, in the end i took a U-Turn & went large scale, I also own 2 other nitro trucks but ive now gave these to my kids. I will NEVER go back to nitro! these things are much more fun..the only problem is the size/weight, they arent too heavy but if you plan on carrying it about wherever you go, they become heavy fast! but that still didnt stop me from getting one

HeatFire

well.. i will never buy a nitro.. alot of trouble getting em running:P i see a petrol engine kinda like a electric car.. just load then go
my Marder starts on hmm.. 1-3 pulls.. alot of fun.. i've heard that the firehammer aint as durable on some parts like the Marder.. but hmm they are basicly the same car.. alot of fun

i would wait on the HPI.. it's like hmm 1-1 month wait for it?=) so wait for it and see if it's good... the initial price is worth it hmm a tip is (i learned this from StefanL )

take an old cord.. or hmm rope? and pull that around the front arms.. then you let it roll on the backwheels much easier to pull it that way then to carry it ofcourse it tiped over for me like.. 5 times when i pulled it offroad:P but it works

i got 3 words for giant scale: BUY BUY BUY

i've never been happier with a RC


edit: want a hug?:P kram = hug.. swedish:P

J_D

hmm? lol


pull it around? just DRIVE it where ever u wanna go lol

HeatFire

lol sometimes ppl dont like me driving it on the hmm yard?:S but it would sound nice with eco and everything and sometimes you got alot to carry and cant drive at the same time so muhahaha sometimes you need to pull it:P

kengentry5000

My Feedback: (2)

There is a lot of buzz about the HPI Baja 5B but personally I would not buy one until next summer after some good reviews and feedback from owners. It has the same CY engine as the Firehammer so it comes down to build quality, spares and hop-ups. I would not expect to see too many HPI Bajas in US hobby stores. At $900+ most hobby dealers would have a hard time selling them. Because they could have a hard time selling them the local store will not have a "wall full of parts" for the Baja either. The same already applies to the Firehammer. It has been out for over a year and it is rare to see them in hobby shops and rarely are parts stocked.

Getting most Firehammer parts from Tower Hobbies is not hard. There are a few parts that seem to be on perpetual back order (i.e. fuel tank, hardened differential case, etc.). The Firehammer parts are cheap compared to FG. Most FG Marder parts will fit on a Firehammer but not all.

I replaced my stock Firehammer CY-brand engine with a Zenoah G260RC. It seems like a lot better engine than the CY. The CY is a clone of an older Zenoah engine design. The latest Zenoah G260RC is a hemi (hemispherical combustion chamber) and has less rotating mass to make the engine perform better. CY is not making such design improvements to their engines. CY is only interested in making inexpensive engines for the low-tier market.

FG uses Zenoah G230RC and G260RC engines. The models base price is higher (FG Marder vs. Firehammer/HPI Baja) by $100 - $200 but it's not a huge difference in the big picture. FG has been making the Marder and refining the design for over 10 years. They are the largest player in this large-scale market. All hop-up manufacturers target FG cars. No third-party hop-up company is targeting the Firehammer. They say the parts should/will fit but they designed the parts for the Marder. You can rest assured the parts will work if you are putting them on a Marder. You can't say that for sure about the Firehammer and definitely not for the HPI (it's altogether different).

I would encourage you to go FG Marder, Beattle or Monster truck.

Just my opinion.

Ken

USABaja5B

Most of the bigger hobby stores in Arizona and California will be stocking the Baja. I'm not sure about the East Coast, but the West Coast is going to go nuts over the Baja. A few of my dealers have 10 or more Bajas on order already. I'm trying to gauge how many rims to make for this, and it seems like it will be big.

kengentry5000

My Feedback: (2)

The dealer support sounds great out west. I live in a 'medium' sized city (Greensboro, NC) and there are 3 Duratrax dealers within 30 miles of my house. I have only seen one Firehammer on a shelf and only heard of maybe 10 - 15 being sold. Maybe it's just the demographic of this area. The shop owners tell me that most buyers can't stomach more than about $500 (i.e. Revo, Savage, OFNA Buggy) for an initial purchase. Because of this, the dealers don't want to tie up inventory $$$ stocking high-end cars that will just sit there.

It's very frustrating because I like my Firehammer. I tried to stick with the local shops for parts ordering but it became a hassle. Besides after paying sales tax and gas to and from the store I can afford Tower Hobbies Express Mail shipping and have parts in hand usually within 48 hours (for small stuff). I would use my local dealer all the time if they had the parts and people that know large scale gas cars. They are excellent with electric and nitro but run out of expertise pretty quick on the Firehammer.

Ken

USABaja5B

That is the big difference with Traxxas or HPI. They are both huge in Arizona and CA. Some of our shops are over 30K in square footage here, with almost $250K in inventory. Its hleps to be able to go out any time of the year, except for a few weeks int he summer when its too hot. I've never seen an FG dealer in Arizona, so everyone has been waiting for soemthing from Traxxas or HPI.

kengentry5000

My Feedback: (2)

I love the weather here in North Carolina. It rarely gets so hot you don't want to be outside (I used to live in Louisiana and remember how hot it was there). It also rarely gets too cold to be outside (dressed appropriately).

I can run my car almost year round here too.

Ken

kram67

Concerning the Firehammer................how long has it been available? Any problems with common breaking parts?

kram67

OK so Im torn between getting the Firehammer now or waiting for the Baja in Jan....................although Im not crazy about owning one of the first generation cars.