Serpent s120 and s400 present
 

Hello guys.. yesterday my girlfriend bought me the s120 for my birthday and i have already have the s400 with an lrp sphere and the rear gear differential.

I am so disapointed with the s400 because it spins all the time when i accelarate.. i dont know how to setup the car and i never found a good setup for this car..

now that i have the s120 am completely lost.. i dont know anything about pan cars.. i dont know what speed controller i can use or what batteries or how to setup the thing or if there is any problems with it..

until now i used the serpent s400 and 720 08 and i didnt like them at all

my s400 spins all the time.. and my 720 is undrivable..

any help will be appreciated..

thanx

Good to have such a girlfriend!

These are cars for experienced drivers.

Are there race tracks around where you live? They guys there will certainly help you. What motors are in these cars?

There are but only one has the cars i have i thing..i need to find good setups or at least shift point setups for the cars..

as for speed controllers and motors i have the lrp sphere for the s400 and for the s120 i dont have anything and i dont know what speed controller and motor can take.. am sure i wont buy the sphere again because it has bullet accelerations and is not proportional at all when accelerating even though i use full exponential on my throttle.. as for the ratio i use 34 pinion gear and the stock spur gear which i dont remember the teeth..

i am thinking to buy a cheap castle creations for the s120 but i dont know which one or if there is a better choice..

as for those who tried the car can anyone tell me any issues or anything i need to take care off? the car is not assembled yet.

i feel like a fly in the water right now..as i dont know anything about these cars..

any help will be appreciated..

Thanks!!

1/12th cars can be very challenging and require that you race on a carpet track or a very well prepared asphalt track. They are not much fun just running them around in the street or in the drive way at home. They are very much a racing machine. Once you race a 1/12th on a prepared surface and you become somewhat competent, there is no more fun than these cars. They are fast, even with stock motors and racing can be very close and exciting.

I race mostly 1/12th and it is the class I am the most passionate about. The Serpent S120 is one of the finest 1/12th scale cars available but there are a lot of other good 1/12th scale cars out there that are equally competitive.

Try reading through these threads and if you are still interested, keep posting your questions. There are a lot of us 1/12th guys out here to help.

Touring cars are quite a bit different than pan cars both in how to drive them fast and setting them up. But the same holds true for top of the line cars like the S120 and S400. They do not perform in the street. Only on prepared surfaces.


http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...pent-s120.html

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...rcuit-car.html

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...pent-s120.html

http://www.rctech.net/forum/electric...onversion.html

1/12 pan cars are very different from TC's and are very sensitive to small changes. Also thay are not good any any surface except a well preped carpet or asphalt race track because thay run at 3-4mm off the surface. It will be useless for running in your driveway or on the street at your house, thats what tc's are for. As for electronics I'd suggest the Novak 4-cell gtb or Tekin RS for the esc; a Futaba S9650 for the servo and what ever rec you need for your radio. 4cell batteries can be purchased at your lhs, a new saddle lipo is in the works but no idea how long before it will be availible. Here is a pic of my s120 for reference as to how it could look all setup.
http://i414.photobucket.com/albums/p...9/serpent2.jpg

I'd suggest that you visit your local track and see if there is any 1/12 class, ask those racers questions and see if thay will help you get it setup. I have the s120 as well as many other 1/12 cars, thay are great fun to drive when well setup and on a proper surface. I'd also recomend you visit the s120 thread here on RC tech, lots of info there.

:lol: crashby types faster than I do :lol:

Yeah but I don't include cool pictures. Nice car, Chris!!!

Thanks:D I need to send it to OD for a better wire job tho :blush:

Yes. OD is the wire master. I saw a M-05 mini yesterday he did for a friend of mine and was it so clean. He also did the edges of one of my new Speed Merchant Rev.5's and it's like glass!!!! You should see one of his spring steel slot cars. Talk about garage art!!!

You have a very generous girlfriend (wish mine would buy me high-end cars...), but please don't take this the wrong way, it sounds like you are a street basher and the Serpent cars are for racing only.

You'll have a lot more fun with something like a Tamiya DF-03RA rally car. It is a lot easier to drive and will soak up the rough streets.

http://richardchang.com/hobby.php?topic=112setup
1/12th setup tips
http://richardchang.com/hobby.php?topic=tcsetup
TC setup sheet


These are 2 VERYY helpful guides to how each change affects the car

Thanks for all the help...!!!

Guys i will tell you something but dont take me the wrong way...i am not trying to show off or something.. am sure some will say am showing off.. but i will like to tell you at what position i am because i think that you will know me better and understand what am trying to find out ..
please dont get me wrong..

Firstly i live in Cyprus and i study in London..i am in this hobby for almost 15 year and am 22 year old.. Yes my girlfriend is such a nice girl and she actually loves me.. until now she bought me kyosho evolva 2005, a kyosho mp9, serpent f180 a mini t, the nomadio react and the s120..
i currently own almost 30 cars about 25 helis and 10 of them are coaxial, and about 20 aeroplanes..I have a shop for my self basically.. i think am not the only freak in the world because i know a friend of mine that owns 80 cars...
please dont get me wrong...
I like to read a lot through forums but when it comes to my cars i know nothing..In Cyprus we have5-6 off road and on road tracks with lots of different categories but not pan cars..the pan car was a gift to make races in London but i dont know yet what will happen because in london and generally in England is very difficult to travel..

i love buggys and truggys but i like on road racing as well.. This year i will deticate my self to fix my st-rr, serpent s400 the 720 the s120 and the v -one..everytime i go to the track i see the other people cars they go like a train (xray nt1, v-one, team magic, kyosho stalion, tamiya trf, tamiya ta04 etc,)when i ask them they dont know or they dont help.. from the people that used the s400 and the 720 only one runs perfect and that one does not help at all.. he wants to win the races on his own..

as for what runs in the streets i have some monster trucks for bashing...Lst2, savage ,revo, stampede,wheely king, mt2..


the track am running own is asphalt and it has a lot of dust.. i guess you can call it street..:)

finally i have checked some of the stuff you showed me and i need to study and ask a lot.. anyone has the s400?

can i use the mamba speed controller
?

http://www.amainhobbies.com/product_...Package-4600kV

Didrace,

I think I can speak for everyone on here, thanks for your last post. Sometimes we need more info from the poster before we can be of any use to you. Sometimes the guys who ask questions start a thread and then never come back to read the replys or post much again. Most people here are very happy to help but we just need to know that you are willing to participate in the discussion. Now we have got that out of the way......I own a S400 and have a Serpent sponsorship myself. Most people that I have spoken to about the car generally rave about how good it is and how big a "sweet spot" it has when setting it up. I am sorry to say that you are the first person who says their car is not working in the slightest.

Here's my question for you. What tires are you running? What inserts? What rims? Tires/Inserts/Rims are probably the single most important thing. Next what body shell are you running? What wing, and where is it mounted in relation to the body mounting lugs? Are you using traction compound before you race? Is the track a prepared track?

If you answer these questions, then I'm sure we can get you going in the correct direction.

Steve

be alert not to crash your s400 otherwise dont hv parts support since this car had been discontinue...

regards..

Corralyman ..
 

firstly thanks for speaking on behalf of everyone..

ok the tyre rim insert compination was..

at the beginng i was using some xray rims that came with an xray kit i bought some years ago, it was aa composite version...the insertss and the tires that i put were some ellegi but i dont know there number. the insert was white and it was not ver soft..

then i bought some take off that came preglued and were for medium to cold weatther i think.. i might be wrong...but when i put them on i noticed that the car was spining so much an i had to change the front tires to a compinationof front very hard and rear very soft..so for rear i stayed with the take off and for the front i put some kyosho ones that have no traction at all but they look the same as the take off..

the body i am using is proline or protoform stratus, am not sure and the wing is mouted as specified by the manual..


when i have discontinued cars i feel i have nothing..