bgrac17

Hey, I am relatively new to rc cars and I have found myself in a bit of a pickle and am hoping for some friendly advice from some more experienced people.

I am Australian so I will use Aud.

Note that my nearest LHS is over 150km away and the next best thing I have on hand is a Leading Edge Electronics store but they just sell RTR.

Ok so I bought the BSR BZ-444 from hobbyking in rtr, along with a battery and charger, thinking that it would be a decent first step into rc cars. Long story short the spur gear is chewed up and the rear left wheel has snapped off at the axle (sorry, don’t know terminology yet) and there is a plethora of other more minor problems I noticed. All this has happened within 45min of running it on my lawn. I am definitely noticing that I got what I paid for.

Now I have a few questions:

1. The plastic spur gears on hobbyking seem to be backordered and there are no metal ones I can find, the only other option is a kevlar spur gear, can anyone tell me whether this material is any good?

2. I would like to buy another higher quality car, is it worth salvaging what I can from this car and building another car from a kit with the electronics or am I better off fixing this car and getting a better quality RTR model?

Either way I'm setting myself a budget of around 450$ish aud (325$ish usd) but I'm willing to go over if I need to.

I will be running on about 30% on road asphalt/concrete, 20% bike dirt tracks and 50% well-kept grass, parks and lawns etc. But it will all just be bashing, no racing. Although if people recommend against anything I am open to suggestions. it can be 4wd or 2wd, I don't mind. I don't mind getting anything a sct, buggy, truggy or stadium truck just not a monster truck or rock crawler, I would like to make durability a priority over speed but decent speeds are always nice.

Any advice, opinions or recommendations are welcome.

Sorry for the long post but thanks in advance for any help.

jagman1

Hey buddy its a shame when this happens but at least your not deterred. The trick to rtr or any second hand car is to go over everything and make sure all screws etc are tight, look up team c australia or walter rc the car is essentially a t4 or tro4 for parts, $450 is a fair budget, check the aussie for sale pages and you will pick something up with money left over

bgrac17

Thanks for the advice man. Little annoyed but yeah undeterred, the t4 spur gear looks as though it would work well with a little modification and any ideas of what rc car I should look for with durability in mind?

T Tom

iTrader: (17)

Find the nearest hobby shop that is "good" and spend the day there and back to talk to someone knowledgeable. How to find a good hobby shop is anouther problem.

blarks

iTrader: (33)

I would steer clear of rtr's if you can mate, quality is usually not the best. Check the aussie for sale section as jagman said. I think buying a new kit may be best as you get to build it and learn about about the parts used and what they do and honestly I think xray kits make one of if not best set of instructions. That said xray isn't cheap and depending on what you buy well past your budget but quality is top notch as is durability.

Apparently nbhc.com.au have an xray xb4 2014 for $465. Of course there are many other quality brands to choose from, my suggestion for the xray is only my opinion, I think as a beginner it would be best for you. Parts a fairly easy to come by, I have found a lot of Australian online shops useless, sorry but thats just my experience, of course not all of them but I only have a couple I use. I get most of my parts from overseas, mainly from amain hobbies, I have had nothing but good service from them. Ebay chop shops are also a good source for spares, just make sure you search around for the best price, again usually from OS but they are in abundance compared to here.

You should also look at a decent radio, futaba is what I use, other brands are airtronics spektrum and ko propo. 1 radio and you can then buy multiple receivers for other cars when you get them. I know all of this is well over your suggested budget but if you buy a decent radio, it is all you will ever need, at least for many years and especially as you are only bashing. The same applies to the car, buy quality and it will last a long time with some maintenance and a few spares here and there. It's all going to be a learning experience.

Jackob

iTrader: (1)

For your intentions, I'd simply buy a Traxxas. They have a variety of vehicles, hitting different budgets, which generally make great bashers.