tb04shelby

I Have just bought a TB04 pro 2 (and some hop ups for bling) and was looking for advice on radio, esc and servo.

I have been out for a few years (and was never hugely into it, raced for about a year or so) and have decided to try and get back into it. Brushless was just getting big when I left, along with 2.4GHz radios and lipos.

I was thinking for the new car getting something along the lines of a low profile savox 1251 servo, a Futaba 4PLS 4-Channel 2.4GHz, and either a speed passion Reventon Pro 1.1 esc or hobby wing quicrun; paired with a 21.5 motor to begin with; I believe this would allow me to race novice at the local club races.

Is this a reasonable set up to start with? Should I look to cheaper on the radio or esc?

I am hoping to start racing again in the near future, in either the 21.5 or maybe 13.5 classes I seem to still have plenty of wheels, tires, pinions, a decent charger and recently picked up a couple of fresh nimh stick packs (will upgrade to lipos when I get back to racing). Will be doing some practice before that on some smooth ashpalt to get the hang of driving again first.

Thank you for any advice / suggestions!

metalnut

iTrader: (36)

Am I the only one who doesn't see any text for this post?

Edit: Uhh... ok, apparently I'm the first post. Weird. Disregard thread?

tb04shelby

I guess I added a the text to the description of the thread rather than the post. Oops.

I haven't been around for a while, and since I have been out radios have become 2.4Ghz, Lipos are a thing and everyone runs brushless.

I have just bought a TB04 pro 2, with a view to driving it in car parks till I can race again. I still have a bunch of pinions and spur gears, as well as some tires, a decent charger and a couple of fresh nimh stick packs.

I am keen on racing 21.5 and possibly 13.5 but am after some advice on electronics and so on.

So far I am thinking of getting the following:
Radio: Futaba 4PLS 4-Channel 2.4GHz
Servo: Savox 1251MGS
ESC:
HobbyWing QuicRun 1/10 Brushless Sensored System 60A
*OR*
Speed Passion Reventon Pro 1.1 Brushless

So - questions:
1. Is this radio overkill? Or will it be useful for racing?
2. Are these ESCs similar or is one better than the other (and how can I tell)?

Thank you!

metalnut

iTrader: (36)

I don't think the radio is overkill, no, I have a 4PL and I still use it and like it, despite having an Airtronics M12 that I race with. I started with the 4PL and it served me well for the first racing season. No complaints, other than a fragile external antenna (so be careful not to break yours).

For any stock (often called "blinky", since the ESC will blink in stock/basic settings, so no boost, no timing advance) racing I can honestly recommend a Hobbywing Juststock ESC. For $50 you get a very solid ESC that will be competitive anywhere. If you have a bigger budget, I personally love my LRP Flow, smooth as butter and super reliable. ORCA is another brand to consider, as they are quickly becoming very popular (at least in my area).

The servo will also serve you fine, no problems there. As for motors... you can go with something as cheap as a TrackStar (which is now ROAR legal), all the way to the more expensive brand names like Reedy, Thunder Power, Trinity (RevTech, D4, etc.), ORCA, Orion, etc. These days there are a ton of good choices, just hang out on this forum and you'll learn a ton.

ThePanda

iTrader: (68)

there is VTA, It is the Slowest TC class, but certainly not the lest competitive.
then there is 17.5 stock class. It is generally regarded as the beginner class.

tb04shelby

Hi guys, thanks for the info.

In Canberra, Australia, the local racing is novice (silver can or 21.5), 'open' 21.5 (ie not novice), stock (which is 27 turn brushed or 13.5 brushless) and mod. In all but mod the esc has to be in blinky mode.

They also have mini and formula 1, which are also 21.5. I will probably look at getting a mini at some point in the future... I used to have an M03 which was super fun.

metalnut

iTrader: (36)

At our club, VTA (or actually Scale Spec, which inherits most of the rules but with a 25.5 for the indoor season) is one of the most competitive classes we have. With a spec motor (Novak ballistic) it's door to door racing every main. We have novices and national level drivers running it all season. I highly recommend the "slower" sedan classes

ThePanda

iTrader: (68)

27 turn brushed is more equivalent to a 17.5 turn brushless.

a 13.5 is about a 19 turn brushed.

tb04shelby

Hey guys, based on the info I have ordered the 4pls, servo and a hobbywing JustSock esc.

Regarding the motors/classes, I checked up and read through a couple of old forums, it seems in Canberra, Australia, since pretty much no-one runs brushed any more, 13.5 is the new 'stock' class, even though, as ThePanda points out, 17.5 is closer. Seems there was lots of discussion at the time they made the rule and the consensus was to make it 13.5 since that what was available locally and the club wanted to have something between 540 silver can (21.5) and mod, and there weren't really enough numbers to justify effectively having 2 classes. I think initially they ran them together as two separate classes, but pretty much everyone ended up on 13.5s so they scrapped the 17.5 class.

Hope that make sense!

So thanks for the advice and feedback, I will be racing the slower classes anyhow until I can get decent control, and it seems to be pretty competitive without being outragously expensive (in terms of batteries, esc and motors and, of course, replacement parts!)

Dave H

Looks like the OP edited the post after it was approved, which then needs approved again.

Electricblue

I had lots of problem with gear stripping on the TB04.. Using Castle sidewinder Sv3 with 5700kv motor.. U may want to choose the motor rating carefully...

ThePanda

iTrader: (68)

Make sure your mesh was set correctly. Cars use those same gears with much more powerful motors than that and don't have issues.

Electricblue

Could be meshing.. But we have 3 TB04 and all 3 have similar issues and on different parts of the gears (diff, spur & trans).. We like the kit otherwise.. Anyway we've since move on to XRAY T4 and have no problem since with belts running 4Ts.. Hehe..

metalnut

iTrader: (36)

TB04 to T4 is quite the upgrade

Electricblue

Haha.. Yup.. No further doubts.. It's all the driver from now on.. But we bash too.. Our favourite is the HPI WR8! Sorry for OT..