jjislas

Shorting out a batter. Most batters come with connectors on them. The Tamiya plug is all fine and dandy but not all chargers have that input. So if you looking to add banana plugs watch out! Those little exposed ends have a way of gravitating towards each other. Never let them be plugged in to a battery when the banana plugs are exposed.

TomTomTuning

iTrader: (19)

Here are some of the things ive done as a noob.

Mistake:

1) Soldering deans.
- Accidentally touching the wires
- Forgetting to slide some shrink warp on the wire before soldering.
- Sliding the shrink warp up to early, and it shrinks before its all the way up (due to the heat from the recent solder)

Tips:
- Get one wire done at a time and make sure to shrink warp it before going to the next wire.
- Don't forget to slide some shrink warp down the wire, so you can slide it back up after your done.
- Wait till the solder has cooled off before sliding it up.
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2) Battery Strap.
- Battery flying out of car due to strap not being securely tighten.

Tips:
- Make sure your battery strap fits correctly before running the car. Lipos are expensive and soft packs can puncher easily. Ive also used Velcro on the
bottom of the battery to hold it to the chassis. My lipo in the TC4 was to large so i had to use a Velcro battery strap
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3) Receiver antenna.
- Running your RC with a broken antenna.

Tip:
- Don't do this (lol), i was excited when i got my B44 and the only receiver i had the antenna was broken off the board, i had about 5feet of range. I went out of that range and the car smacked the wall. = Broken parts...
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4) Protective film.
- Forgetting to take if off, before installing stickers.

Tip: I think everyone does this at least once. Dont forget to take it off after paint.
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5)Racing.
- Trying to keep up with the pros.

Tips:
- I know its a race, but if your just starting chances are you wont be keeping up with them. Just pace your self and just run the track smooth and try not to wreck/flip. You will progressively get faster if you follow that rule. Its hard i know, I'm just getting into racing and this was a bad habit i had, but ive learned. haha
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That's all i can think of for now. Ive never had "gluing tires on backwards" problem, since all the tires Ive ever used were non directional. I'm sure there's other common mistakes out there.

xrayzone

Buying a nitro vehicle and not having previous experience.

TomTomTuning

iTrader: (19)

Besides eventually wanting to go electric, i dont see having prier experience necessary to buying a Nitro. How do you think other people learn about Nitro, they buy one.

oeoeo327

iTrader: (75)

At first, I was tempted to disagree with TomTom, but thought it over and think that it's OK to purchase a nitro powered RC vehicle if you've had prior experience servicing machinery. Otherwise, I'd recommend purchasing an electric vehicle first to become acquainted with the controls and electronics, along with the basics of servicing an R/C model before dealing with the problems that come with the extra dirt and vibration encountered during the model's operation. Nitro models often provide pleasure until the first glow plug fails, the fuel goes bad (from leaving the cap off the bottle) or the model runs away because the on-board batteries fail. I'd strongly recommend going electric first, doing your homework, and buying a nitro vehicle knowing that there's a steeper learning curve.

TomTomTuning

iTrader: (19)

There definitely is alot more responsibilities when it comes to nitro, thats for sure.

For lower maintenance and easier to use, electric is the way to go. But Nitros are awesome none the less. Before it use to be, if you wanted alot of power, nitro was the way to go. But with brushless/lipos... Its a different story now.

mutilatorman

Totally wrong. My first vehicle was a nitro and I had zero problems. Not to be rude, but the peeps that can't figure out these toys in the first place shouldn't be in the hobby. Nothing about them is complex. I found electric a bit more complex due to soldering and electronics in general.

I agree with the speed thing. 40 is fast. It's the speed and control to 30 that one should want.

oeoeo327

iTrader: (75)

My perspective comes from having owned a retail hobby shop and reviewing my repair order and sales records. The ratio of nitro vehicle repairs to electric vehicle repairs was 8:1, and first timers that bought electric vehicles often returned to buy a different vehicle at a later date. Many first-time nitro customers came back within a week asking "why doesn't this thing work???" or asking for their money back because the vehicle wouldn't run "properly". I also found it a lot easier to teach someone how to calibrate their electronics or perform basic electrical repairs as opposed to tuning a nitro carburetor. That's not to say all newbies can't learn the skills necessary to maintain and enjoy a nitro vehicle, but it often requires a little more hand-holding before they "get it", so to speak.

Foxxrocket

Well, if you're going to go nitro, you have to start somewhere. Rookie mistake, or not. You can't go in knowing it all.

seanm6

Darn, I've only done #2. I've done lots of rookie mistakes, where's the "put 3S lipo in 1/18 scale car", or my favorite, "forget to put your transponder in the car".

tc3team

Going too fast around a corner and think the car understeers, or just in general not respecting the throttle/treating it like and on off switch.

It takes a while to understand suspension and how its changes make the car handle differently.

You have to have a very logical mind with r/c

Miniracer23

+1 on buying a RTR. My first rc(that I raced) was a Jammin x-1 crt rtr. Before I had raced my 2nd or 3rd race I replaced the radio system, servos, and engine. Not to mention, replaced all the cheap rtr parts with the FT aluminum parts. Most expensive rtr and last rtr I'll ever own.

ae rat

i like the guy who spends hundereds on a truck then wants to buy a cheap radio to control it.

RC TTwins

iTrader: (43)

i race my nitro 4 tec but i also had the damaged receiver wire and had to figure out the hard way buy ordering not only a receiver but a load of parts for the car thats why i give it to my bro.

SteveP

Ding, ding, ding! Tell him what he win's Johnny! Although I think the BS ratio is closer to 98-percent.