ThePanda

iTrader: (68)

for somebody who is new/ doesnt know if they will like drifting I would not recommend a 700 dollar kit. I would liken that to a new driver buying a ferrari because an F1 driver says they are "some of the best cars on the road". In the hands of a novice it is not going to be any faster than say a mid range BMW and it will be harder to setup and much more expensive to repair.

I would start with a basic tamiya kit. TB04/ta06/tt02, etc. they can drift just fine in 50/50 and if you don't like drift they are easy to setup for driving around just in a parking lot. not to mention that the really high end kits need perfectly groomed surfaces, and preferably do best on scale drift tracks, such as on road double deck touring car kits. .

the only time i would recommend starting with a top of the line kit would be if you planned to race either 1/10 or 1/8 offload or on road 1/12, 1/10/ 1/8 scale, and you already have previous rc experience, knowing exactly what you are getting into.

Drift_Buggy

iTrader: (22)

MST make a basic kit that is $139.90 and can be upgraded to VIP spec etc. RCMart - MST FSX-D
More details can be found on MST's site - MST FSX-D Kit

Aw11Clown

Wouldn't recommend a tto2 etc at all. The rtr mst kits aren't much more and are much better not to mention upgrades. the entry kits are a little more than a d4. These days there is no reason to go for anything other than a mst/yokomo/overdose. You don't have to spend a lot to go drifting these days if you don't want to. The newer gen rwd kits aren't as surface dependant as the earlier ones either.

ThePanda

iTrader: (68)

Cost is a big and very good reason to not go with one of those cars. If you can afford a 500 dollar kit as well as the price for good quality electronics to go with it then sure, but as a first car you better be pretty sure you are going to stick with it.

Skeet215

Agreed. As a new driver and someone who only has local parking lots to drift in, personally I can't justify $700 worth of stuff to purchase. If there was a real drift scene here it would be different. Plus it hurts less to damage a $150 kit on a crappy surface I do like the MST kit that is posted has caught my eye due to the upgrades available plus cost is reasonable.

Skeet215

Has anyone tried doing any body mods? I keep seeing the cars with full interior or exposed frames, rust etc.. Just wondering if anyone here is that deep into the drift style. I really like the look and may try to get one going

MOmo

iTrader: (2)

I applaud anyone willing to go thru that much detail. Quite a few people have extensive work done and if you didn't know, you'd swear you were looking at the real thing.

Companies like Pandora, DemiWorks and Pipes make accessories and the like to help enhance and dress up ones car. Other folks with lots of skill use Styrene and other materials to mold or create custom parts or accessories like roll cages bash bars etc.

Lots of tutorials are available online. Driftmission.com is a great resource.



MOmo

wareagle84

To successfully drift RWD you have to be very good at understanding how to set up and adjust your chassis to perform properly. Lots of RWD guys go through tons of tires and damper springs and oil finding what they need to actually RWD drift. Add in all the other adjustments that need tweaked once you find the right tire and suspension setup, like camber, caster, toe, weight distribution, gyro settings etc., and you can see why it is recommended to start at least with a low/mid CS to learn before you try the hardest possible setup with no or little understanding of how to tune the car. Unless you have a lot of RC car experience, you'll likely have no clue what you're doing.
RWD also looks kinda funky IMO. The extreme angle of the steering (damn near 90° in some cases) and the twitching of the car doesn't look natural. Plus the fact that it's extremely hard to do without gyro assist is kind of lame. The best, most realistic looking overall IMO is higher CS chassis. Still tail happy, but can be mastered without the use of gyro and spending a ton of time and money on parts and settings as they tend to be less dependent on that. Usually just swap out tires and maybe springs for different surfaces is doable.

Skeet215

I know basically nothing about CS drifting. It is only possible through the use of a belt drive car correct?

Drift_Buggy

iTrader: (22)

Either Shaft or Belt. Countersteering is the act of turning the tires of your car into the direction of the skid to prevent the car from oversteering or spinning. Even in 50/50 drifting there are situations that require some countersteering technique to keep the car in control. In the RC drifting world, CS drifting refers to changing the drive ratio of the front, rear or both differential. By changing the drive ratio, the power distribution of the car will no longer be 50% front and rear. If the power distribution is differed by for example: 30% front and 70% rear, then the car behaves more like a RWD car; similar to a real drift car. This makes the car more difficult to drive due to the rear wheels trying to out-drive the front wheels of the car. This leads to more countersteering and also adds to the realism of scale drifting.

CS is achieved by a couple of methods:
Underdrive (UD): Increasing the drive ratio of the front differential, the front ratio is larger than the rear.
Overdrive (OD): Decreating the drive ratio of the rear differentail, the rear ratio is smaller than the front.

Skeet215

Ok cool. I get the logic behind CS. How would I go about changing or adjusting it on a shaft drive car? I am currently using an Associated Apex as my intro to drift.

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

One way is to use different weights of diff fluid in front and rear diffs. One of my drift cars is a Vaterra. I use 100w in front and 25w in rear. It's a small effect, but it did help. Especially when I was first learning 3 years ago.

wareagle84

You have to change out the diff gears. They sell CS kits with different ratio gears. Typically shaft driven cars have less option for CS, but companies have started to make more CS gearing options over the past couple years.
Adding thicker or thinner grease doesn't really give you the full CS effect, it's more of a locked diff effect. Thicker will make the diff effect less and more like a locked diff. It'll be noticeable, but nothing like driving a real CS setup.

Skeet215

Thx for the tips guys. It gives me some stuff to try out

Billy Kelly

iTrader: (9)

Little things can help with drifting. Biggest thing is practice. Too many get caught up in the scale obsession with drift. It does look good. But not needed.
Be suprised how well a 50/50 can do. If ready look for a used CS. Its a jump from 50/50. Has very different feel to it.