Expert Advice Needed!!
 

So I am new to the sport and have been looking at a few cars to purchase. I want to start with the best and make a good investment towards it and grow into my potential. So far the Tamiya RTF416X, XRay T3 & Hot Boddies Cyclone have caught my eye in that order. Please advise if there is another choice I should look into and why. If not, let me know which of these would be the best choice. For whatever car I get I have decided to get the Novak Velociti 4.5 brishless motor along with the GTB ESC. I'm not sure on the battery because I don't understand the differences between them but if you could advise a good LiPO battery and charger I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance to anyone that gives me advise. I really appreciate it. Thank you!

Personally the best advice you can be given would be at your local track..

See what other people are running first..

Normally spares are the single most important factor of racing, if you purchase a Tamiya and have to spend time looking overseas for spares = less time racing

Your local club there will be one car which over 60% of people use as spares are ready available and can be purchased local also they can give good setup advice.

Secondly 4.5t Brushless motor will be megga quick for a starter..

Again find a local club and get some advice on classes, even though they seem slow you may find slower is more fun as they tend to be bigger classes and much better learning arena.

Lipo battery question, if you are looking for something which can be used for a while look for 40c and 50c they will last for a long to come if looked after them.

Hope ths helps.

You also need to be more clear with what you intend on doing with the car (racing, playing in a parking lot, or just making speed runs, etc.) I also agree that it would be more important to see what you can get the most support and help with locally seeing as you are new. All are good cars, but some may be better or worse depending on your intentions for a car, good luck.

I will be using the car for the local track. I want to get a lot of practice in and then try and enter some races. This may also sound weird, but I want the best car for my price range. I want myself to be the limiting factor, not the car. I want to know that given the right driver my car will beat anything and everyone out there. So no one really gave me any advice on the car. Also, what brand of Lipo battery should I be looking for? I also saw an xxxx mah related to the lipo batteries. What does that mean and which numbers should I be looking for there? And is the voltage always 7.4 for the lipos? What voltage do I need?

You have already received the best advice there is about the car.

Given the restricted info you provide, it is very difficult to go any further. Besides, there is plenty of info around if you search. Perhaps it would help you crystallise your intentions better if you did a bit of homework.

Any car in the right hands will beat any other car. The three you are looking at are right up there. There are others, but as you have been advised already, it makes no sense to talk about them if you can't get them or parts.

And about the price range, you didn't mention it yet. The cars you're looking at are around the 500$ mark, but keep in mind, to set yourself up and actually put the car down on the track at competitive level you'll probably need about 3k$ assuming you buy everything new.

Take the advice you have received and pay a visit to your local track. It's the best advice there is.

I appreciate all of you guys help. I assumed that with the internet and the amount of ebay stores that I wouldn't have a propblem finding parts. But I will check the local track and see what they're offering. Can someone still shed some light on the lipo batteries numbers and how they work. Who makes light batteries. Which brands should I stick with, what do all the different numbers mean, etc... Thanks.

Again, go to your track. They may have battery rules so again you might be wasting money buying some battery they don't allow.

The internet is all good and so on, but you can't get parts off the internet in a hurry.

Perhaps if you mentioned your local track you could find people who race there and could help you a lot more with accurate info.

Or you could look up the track website.

I'd like to thank you guys for being patient with me. Your right about talking to people at the local track. They are very nice and informative. I spoke to a guy and he stated that most people are running the Hot Bodies Cyclone and the XRay T3 & another car that started with an "A", cant remember the name. He said it really doesn't matter what I get because they have parts for everything (American, I assume). He said they have a class for the 17.5 motors and I should go with that in the Tekin and the Tekin or LRP ESC. He said I would be fine with the T3 being that it is rather new and that they are coming out with a new hot bodies car in a few months. He mentioned handling wise they are pretty much the same and the Cyclone is a little less expensive. The local track is Speedworld (speedworldraceway dot com). Once again I apologize for being so anxious. Didn't realize they would be so helpful at the track.

If this is true, you won't want a GTB. Look into a Tekin RS. Battery I would say whatever the top ThunderPower is (currently 5200 50c?). The chassis you have chosen are all good. You may want to look at the Robitronic Avid2 when it comes out later this month. (car with the "A" name?)

Set-Up
 

So I went with the Xray T3 EU version. I got a mazda speed 6 body for it. For my controller I got a Spektrum DX3R w/ SR3520. They have a 17.5 class at my local track so I'm going with a Tekin 17.5 & Tekin RS Pro ESC w/ Hotwire. KO Propo PDS-2413 Servo and Sorex 28 & 36r tires. Haven't decided on my LiPo yet but I got a Hyperion EOS0606i charger.

You seem to have been well advised, your choices so far are pretty good imho. For the servo my personal favourite is the legendary KO2413, seriously I don't want anything else. EVER

(ko 4 life ! ;-)

Copy that, Great choices and KO servos.... Yes!

Holy Crap !!! These were good choices for a newbie !!??:weird::weird::eek:
Well...to late now so I'll give you the same advice I give all of the new drivers in our club. "Speed means nothing unless you can get it around the track". Although your equipment choices are very high end ...you don't have knowledge of the basics so....try not to get frustrated. The level of the equipment you bought is beyond the skill level of many drivers. It takes experience and knowledge to understand how to make changes but also why you're making them. Take your time and don't expect to come out winning right off the bat. It sounds like you may have a good group of people to help you. Seek help where its offered. More important than anything....Have fun.

evoracer is right just dont over think the car!!! take your time on assembly. The best dollar spent is that of Practice Fees.. Find the fast guys in your class and pic their brains everyone in this hobby is always willing to help each other out. thats what i like about it.

i dont run electric YET but i do run 1/10 nitro, a set-up guide should be included with your T3 kit and also a small table that helps with set-up. it tells you what to do if you need more steering/ less steering, on throotle/off throttle and what to change first to get the fast correction... etc etc etc study this and always have it with you. when you do set-up adjustments, always do one by one so you can understand what really changed your car's performance on the track. if you do many changes like shock oil, ride height, droop and camber all at once, you will never understand what made the car better. just my 2 cents.


cheers
Ali

Ha-ha! For once good advice found a good home. Your car and electronics are indeed top of the tops. Perhaps the radio will need upgrading but that's in the distant future for now.

About the servo, everybody has their own preference again.

The KO servo recommended above is probably a good one to start with. There are others of better specs but have their own downsides.

I personally use only the JR 9100 series which is faster than the KO (it's actually the fastest servo on the market), has more torque (the highest torque for the speed) and is all metal geared, ball raced, coreless motor. It really has all the bells and whistles.

Downside is that is a hairwidth wider than a standard servo. This is not a problem as most cars have some adjustment allowed for different size servos.

Another downside is that the JR servo is quite heavy and right now I can say I would like a little less weight in my car as regulations allow a lower race-ready car weight than in the past. If I balance my car left to right for instance, I need to add weight to the battery side until I am above the legal weight by a little margin, because of the heavy servo. With a smaller, ligther servo, I would be spot on, but then again, I like it's reaction speed and categorically positive control of my steering.

Talk about servo speed, when choosing the servo, make sure your radio can handle it. I have discovered to my surprise some time ago that the radio I was using (a first gen DX3, DSM1) was too slow to make use ofsuch a fast servo. Not sure about the DX3R, but I don't think you need to worry about it with a .1s servo. If you do decide for a faster servo, ask around. I switched to a KO Helios radio and only then realised how capable my servo was.

All this comes at a price though (in Australia, these servos cost half the price of your car).

However, it is very likely that you'll never need to buy another servo. My oldest is pushing five years of racing, crashes and all with no issues at all. Over that timespan, the price becomes more than acceptable.

How do you get rid of a double post?

Thanks for all the great advice. I really appreciate it. I will look into the servos you guys have suggested.

Niznai - Are you talking about the JR 9100s servo?There are so many different JR series servos that I didn't know which one to do research on.

How do you guys like the SMC LiPo's? All I ever hear anyone talk about is Thunder Power.

Futaba 9551 low profile servo is another good one for u to look at. solid, reliable and fast.

i havnt used SMC lipos but have read the quality isnt the best. IP and Thunderpower are probably the best in the business.

have fun.

This is the one:

http://www.waldorfrc.com/servlet/the...S-Servo/Detail

So I decided to go with the Kopro 2413 servo. The other one just seemed a little complicated and I figure it would be something to upgrade to in the future.

Trying to find my LiPo now. What does it mean if it has a Traxxas connector? Is that a problem? Someone told me I'd have to change it. What kind of connector should I be looking for? I know my charger comes with Deans connector. It that the type I should be looking for? Will the deans connect to my ESC or whatever it needs to connect to. Thanks in advance for the reply(s).

For starters I would use a deans connector. You are getting great advice on here just keep up the smart decisions and take your time building the kit and don't forget to CA the chassis and holes. A Main Hobbies is a great place to get lots of stuff and their Protek batteries are pretty reputable. I use a Team Orion digital servo and could not be happier so far and the DX3R radio is perfect.

Most of the batteries out now are 5000+ milliamp hrs which is the capacity of the battery (how long a run you will get). The 2s means it is two cell and they are all 7.4 volt which is a standard spec for touring cars. The "C" rating has to do with discharge capability how many amps it will discharge in a given time (seconds). Again most are going 50c now.
My Xray T3 was fast and handled well out of the box with all baseline settings, now its down to gearing, speedo settings (get the tekin interface) and most of all my lame driving...lol

hope this helps

Deans is one of the most widely used connectors for RC. The Traxxas connector is simply a different brand. They both claim zero loss. IMO the Traxxas easier to solder and a bit easier to disconnect than a Deans because it's a little bit bigger. The other advantage is that no heat shrink tubing is necessary with the Traxxas. The disadvantage to the Traxxas might be that not a lot of people use them, and if you had to borrow a battery or a charger, you might have to use an adapter or simply be outta luck.

Personally, if all my stuff weren't Deans already, I'd think about going Traxxas, just easier to use in general.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the advice, very helpful. Any one second the Protek batteries? Someone once told me the lead in batteries were Thunder Power, SMC & Acorn???

I've only been in this hobby 3 years but my advice would be to learn how to set your car up with neutral settings and leave them there for 6 months... If your new to this, then trust me, you will never notice a 2 degree change to camber or how your shocks are positioned... neutral settings would be something like:

2 degree toe out front
3 degree toe in rear
5mm ride height front and rear
1 degree camber all around
use a stiffer spring in the front then the rear
don't use a sway bar
Sorex 36 all around

this is basic , but I'm sure many other people here will tell you, learn to drive first... worry about the set up later... Oh yeah, and have fun :D

You have made a blisteringly good set of choices. Everything you have listed here is top shelf, will work exceedingly well, and will last you a long while.

The Servo is the ONE piece of the car that you DONT want to skimp on. You want a servo with a lot of torque. I personally run a Futaba 9551 lopro on my Xray009, and its perfect in all regards. Small, fast, strong, and pretty affordable.

Sorex are fantastic (buy premounts). 28s for cold weather, 32s for cool/warm weather, 36s for warm/hot weather. At my outdoor asphault track, we normally switch to 36s when the track temp hits ~105 degrees F, give or take.

Also, make sure you buy a decent little temp gun, so you can temp your motor as you begin working on gearing and timing. You dont want to blow up your new 17.5.

In my opinion, the best lipo on the market is the IP 5600mah 50c battery. I just got one a few weeks ago, and it is flawless. You can buy it with bullet plugs, or a deans plug right from the factory.

Would this be the battery you are referring to (EPIC Trinity IP 5600mAh 7.4V 2 Cell 50C Lipo)

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y29...DdRBLvLRcb.jpg

I'd be curious to know how much you've spent so far ?? Were you serious...you have no experience with rc cars and have yet to race one ??

Yep that's it. You can get them on ebay, amainhobbies.com under their protek label (same battery, same price, different label), and nexusracing.com

^^^^^ Here is some golden advice. I did not go this route - I have been just chasing setups and getting frustrated. Do the above, learn to drive (and thus what to change) and just enjoy the hobby !!

Well without the battery and I haven't finished painting my body I'm about $1300 into it. And no I haven't raced before but I hope to move up through the ranks very quickly.

I saw this battery for $80. Is this a good battery? Can anyone else chime in on their success with this battery or anyone they've heard of?

HOLY CRAP !! And we wonder why more people don't get involved or those that do drop out to quickly.
Way2Evl....I feel bad for you Man. The rediculous suggestions for all this high end garbage is downright insulting. Its the same sensation I get walking in to our local Hobbytown and watching some poor guy get conned into believing that an Xray is a great first car and if he wants to go 50mph he'll need that 8t motor and that Black Diamond esc.....and the list goes on. A few days later after the esc and motor are fried, the car doesn't go straight and he can't figure out the radio....the stuff goes in a closet or sells for dirt cheap and one more racer never happens.
Forgive the rant...it's not directed at you. You guys leading this guy down the yellow brick road looking at that $1300 dollar figure ?? You should be ashamed of yourselves.
This potential driver should have started out with an inexpensive used package or a simple entry level package that gave him a chance to do the things that really count......learn to drive and learn the basics of repair,maintenence and setup.
Way2Evl, I hope I'm wrong. I hope you have a coach or mentor of some sort who's going to walk you through all the missed steps. I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't see it happen way to often. Good Luck, I hope good things for you in the hobby.

Evoracer, he stated he wanted a top end TC. A car that would not be the limiting factor, just his driving, so people are giving advice based on that. I wish I had bought a race worthy TC right from the beginning. I bought my first mid range hobby grade RC car a few months ago. I always wanted one from when I was a kid, but never got around to buying one until recently. I didn't think I would want to race at the time, just drive it around parking lots and empty streets. I was happy with it for a couple of weeks. It was fun to rip around my neighborhood, but I soon realized after trying many things to make it handle a bit better, it was not really designed for it. I was hooked on RC cars though and decided I did want to get into racing now, but this new car of mine was not a wise choice for that. Maybe I should have bought a mid or lower range Tamiya kit, since people actually race the lower end Tamiya kits, but I didn't know that at the time and I never really liked the name Tamiya (I really don't know why, I just didn't) so I stupidly chose an HPI car instead. Other than giving me a lesson in basic maintenance, rudimentary driving skills and what not to buy, it is pretty useless. Even if I added every hop-up, which would end up costing quite a bit, the car would still not be competitive in the only classes it would qualify for. I felt drawn to 1/10th TC more and more every day, but knew I had to get a new car if I wanted to start racing, so that is exactly what I did. My new car is almost ready for the track(drives fine, just needs a better radio and servo for racing, and also waiting for a transponder). By the time it is all done, I will have spent far more than $1300, It will be much closer to $2000 , maybe over(Extra parts and many tools are a good chunk of this total..taxes and shipping too) , that does not include what I spent on my first car. My only regret is spending so much on my first car that I could have put towards my new one. I think even if I had bought a Tamiya kit first that I could start racing with, I would not be satisfied with it for long. The high end TCs were calling my name, and now that I have one almost complete, I just want to get out and race it. I expect I'll probably break some things, but at least I'll be replacing parts on a car I love and if I do get good, I don't need to buy something better to be competitive, I already have it. If I suck, well I still have a pretty damn cool car to drive and I fully expect to keep driving it regardless of my racing abilities :) I'm now completely hooked on RC cars and once I'm hooked on something there is no stopping me.

Way2Evl, good luck...to both of us :D

Sorry for the length of this post

About servos, enough has been said, and your choice is very good.

Here is why I chose mine.

I have found that you need serious torque and for peace of mind, I decided the JR was the best one can buy for its specs. If you check again you will see it is the only one of the three that has all the bells and whistles, plus is the fastest and has the highest torque.

I have watched cars thousands of times going around corners at high speeds and I have noticed some servos (including the Futaba S9551) simply can't hold against the mighty grip and centrifugal force (wheels hesitate and flutter). And yes, I checked afterwards what saver and if the driver was responsible for the hesitation I noticed. That's why I want the most torque I can get. Again, your choice isn't bad and may very well serve you perfectly. Just a point to remember. There is a KO servo on par with the JR, but more expensive (at least in Oz).

And yes, I have seen plenty of Futabas and KO (as well as other brands) with stripped gears. Slop is also an issue.

As Capt'n put it, you don't want to skimp on the servo.

For Lipo, go with Corally plugs and you can't go wrong. I have a box full of Deans connectors that failed in the most frustrating manner. They develop bad contact over time for a reason I still can't understand. I think the plastic softens around the contact blades due to the high currents drawn and these sink ever so slightly in the plastic and you end up with a dead connection. I gave them all up for good.

About Corally plugs if you decide for them, make sure and buy the real stuff with the twisted slotted spring sheath, the el cheapo copies will flatten and pop out of the battery randomly which is really frustrating.

About buying the best you can afford, I found this is the cheapest option in the long run. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to make do with something of poor quality. The amount you spent is normal. If I look back, in OZ, I had to spend about the same amount if not more to put any of my cars down on the track a competitive car.

The Xray is a weapon (I never said it is the best becasue I consider the best car depends on the driver, not the car) but you need to put it together carefully.

Whatever you do, don't rush.

From experience, I have noticed you need to rebuild the diffs from new. Sometimes they don't have any grease in and you'll destroy them if run like that.

Use loctite on screws rather than tightening them like you are building the Titanic.

Make sure you undertsand how to build and bleed the shocks before starting. These are really trick and wrok brilliantly, but if stuff them up they're expensive.

The balljoint cups are sided. Check carefully which side is which and use a something like a wheelbrace from a Tamiya kit (or anything made of soft metal like brass, aluminium, antimony, etc) to push down on the cups to drive them home over the balls. This will avoid scratching balls.

Personally I don't like the surface finish of the balls and the hard plastic of the cups in Xray kits so I replace them with Yokomo items. These are polished to a mirror finish and have a tighter fit too and because the plastic of the cups is more rubbery, they don't develop slop if need be to pull them out again and again. But I avoid this anyway and actually use the Yokomo drilled through balls so I can disconnect anything by taking out a screw rather than pull a ball out of the socket. When service time is at a premium, it's the fastest option. A bit of dry graphite powder goes a long way towards extending their life and keeping crap out too.

Have fun.

locked, your comments are all good and I won't beat this thing to death but....Your experiences are the perfct example of what I'm saying except from the reverse side. Had you received good advice...you may have made a better choice for that first car. You're right...buying a car like the TT01 or an E10 is not the best choice to enter the hobby. I recommend those cars for only 2 reasons.....the budget is really small and you either dont plan on racing or dont know if you might want to race. Either way, these type of cars do serve a purpose.....they tend to make the extended cost LESS because it : 1. gives you an understanding of what it takes to drive and some time to build driving skill 2. Gives you the time to find out IF and at what level you may want to get more involved 3. gives you time to learn various functions of the car, electronics, radio AND time to research various manufacturers 4. Gives you time to build a budget for the gear you've now researched and have the skill to operate and maintain.
As I said, there are many great cars both used and new that would better suit a person who has no rc history whatsoever. Way2evl is maybe much more fortunate than some. The fact that he has a large budget to work with is both a gift and a curse.
I wish him the best but I truly believe his learning curve will be hindered by the level of the gear he's buying...UNLESS he literally has someone "holding his hand" to guide and teach him. Just look at some of his questions. All good ones but definitely those of a true beginner. The level of the gear he's getting will take him ages (or never) to figure out. We've all seen it....the poor guy who got a top end car and does nothing but get frustrated because there's never enough help for him....especially in a racing environment. We all know how busy that can be.
Anyway, I'm sorry if anyone is offended. As a race director and the originator of our club I've just seen way to many folks get scared off this way and I can never agree with this kind of approach as a proper entrance to the hobby.

So, I got my car up and running and just wanted to thank everyone who helped me out. It is so much fun to drive. I'm having a really great time.

To those who were worried about the direction I took and my choice of expensive parts. From having many hobbies I have found it is also better to get the best parts (or close to) available to you because it will benefit you in the long run. There's nothing worse than having a part and growing in the sport and having to purchase something to accommodate your skill level when you could have just purchased it in the first place. It is a waste of money! I know whith my choices that unless broken these parts should last me awhile with the growing technology.
One thing is certain is that the level of help required for a newcomer is not always there. Luckily we have the internet/forums and youtube and most questions can be answered through these sources.

I have to say that the hotwire is GREAT! It makes setting the car up really easy. I think I have the right setup and my adjustments have made a world of difference.

Now I plan on learning to rebuild the diff and bleed the shocks. Once I learn how to do these I should have a pretty good start. Also, I need to buy tools and things for setting up the parameters of the car. This hobby is expensive, (like most of my hobbies) but a lot of things are one time buyers. Then you get killed with track practice fees haha. Thank you and God bless. ;)