markbt73

It has been my experience that 90% of the tuning of these things is down to picking the right tires. And if you're at a race track, the easiest way to find them is to see what the fast drivers are using and do the same. It's a night-and-day difference, even with an otherwise stock entry-level car. And it makes sense: if you don't have traction, the suspension and steering and drivetrain can't do their job, so any improvements there are pointless without good tires. So I would say if you're going to spend money anywhere, spend it on tires first.

Twenty years isn't a very long time, technologically. The first Prius is only 23 years old now. Hybrids are only now becoming mainstream, and plug-in hybrids are still fairly new. Fully electric cars make up something like 1-2% of new car sales in the US. It's a huge step, but still a drop in the bucket. And already we're seeing strain on the existing infrastructure - not in terms of power availability, but in terms of build-out of charging stations. That's going to take a long time to rectify. Not only that, but average new car prices are stratospheric now. More people are holding on to older cars for longer, because they just can't afford to drop $40k on a new car. Combine that with ICE cars being more durable and reliable than ever, and I'm willing to bet that half of the new ICE or hybrid cars sold today will still be on the road in 20 years. We've talked a lot about this over at the Autopian, both on the site and internally among the writers, and we're all pretty sure that the solution for the next 15-20 years is to get as many people into plug-in hybrids as possible. If you have a car that can be electric for the 50 miles a day that it's typically driven, but able to burn gasoline to go longer distances, that's the best compromise we're going to find for now, until the charging network catches up, and more affordable EVs become available. And there's no reason that most "normal" cars on the road can't be some sort of plug-in hybrid. There's essentially no difference in the driving experience between an ICE-powered little crossover (which seems to be what most people want to drive these days) and a PHEV version of the same car. It's just that one uses half as much gasoline in normal use. As for enthusiasts? I would guess that purely ICE-powered fun cars, along with manual gearboxes and carburetors, will die off with our generation. In 20 years, I'll be 71, and probably past my prime in terms of crawling under cars to fix things (it's already pretty difficult). All the more reason to enjoy them now, I suppose. Nobody is going to want them after we're gone. For now, I just moved to a semi-rural area, without much population density or traffic, where the air is clean and gasoline is reasonably cheap. I don't commute anymore, so any driving I do is to run errands or for fun. I'll probably only average a few thousand miles a year total. So I'm just going to enjoy my little sports car, and my beat-up old truck, and my Hemi, and not worry about it too much.

Full confession: the first hobby-grade RC car I fell in love with was a Kyosho (Cox) Turbo Scorpion. Saw the display model at Toys R Us and I was smitten. I was like Wayne with the Stratocaster: It would be mine. Oh yes, it would be mine. Didn't happen. The Scorpion was discontinued not long after, and back then, when a kit was gone, it was GONE. Instead, when I started saving up, I set my sights on a Kyosho Pegasus, but the local hobby shop guy, Tamiya man through and through, talked me out of it. He showed me a Wild One and a Hornet, and I fell in love with the Wild One (I guess I had a thing for rollcages). But I got impatient, and as soon as I had amassed Grasshopper money, I pulled the trigger. No regrets, as I now have a re-re Scorpion and a re-re FAV/Wild One hybrid, and the Grasshopper was a fine start in the hobby.

Ask 100 people, and you'll get 100 different answers. For me, it's anything before the "T-Maxx Era," which is when the focus shifted from cool-looking and fun with at least a nod towards scale realism to all-out performance even if it looked silly. The cheerfulness went away during that time, and the whole feeling shifted towards a more brutal interpretation of fun - "this thing is so fast and capable it's going to pummel the enjoyment out of you, like it or not." Even a Tamiya Wild Dagger, released around the same time, feels more friendly and approachable than a T-Maxx or any of its clones. The fun has come back in recent years, but it's still nothing like the joy and optimism of 25-30 years ago. For race cars, I guess you could call it anything that's 3 or 4 generations old now. So RC10B3, Losi XXX, etc could be considered vintage now, as could a first-generation Xray or HPI touring car. It's the point at which it stops being just old and uncompetitive and starts getting "wow, I haven't seen one of those in forever" comments. But again, that's just my interpretation.

I'll just hit the highlights... Christmas 1984: I receive a little 1/12 scale RC Lamborghini from Radio Shack. It's not proportional, and only goes walking speed, but I'm hooked. The following year, I ask for a "real" RC car, but am denied; I decide to start saving up to buy one myself. August 1986: After two summers of mowing lawns, walking dogs, painting fences, and other odd jobs, I finally order a Grasshopper combo deal from Sheldon's Hobbies in California. I start building it the very day it arrives, and within a month, have already worn out the first set of tires. January 1987: Seeing that this is an interest that is here to stay, my parents spring for a Blackfoot kit for my birthday. Later that year, they get a Marui Big Bear for my brother, so he can play with me, but it's a disaster, so they replace it with a Falcon. My brother soon loses interest, and I sort of inherit both cars. I trade the Big Bear to a kid down the street for a half-dead Kyosho Optima with no drive chain, which just sits around. Summer 1988: I find a new-built AYK 566B Super Trail buggy at a garage sale for $50. It's literally every penny I have. I shoehorn the radio and MSC from the Falcon into it, run it a couple of times, then switch everything back to the Falcon, because it's faster. Fall 1990: I leave for college, taking only the Blackfoot (now considerably worse for wear, but still chugging along) with me. 1992: I discover an indoor carpet oval track near my college, sell the Blackfoot, and buy a Bolink '91 Sport. I'll race carpet oval on and off for the next three years at various tracks in Minnesota and Wisconsin, eventually buying an RC10LSO SS which I still own. 1993: My parents divorce, and my mom cleans out the house before moving out by throwing the entire contents of the garage and basement into a dumpster, including all the other RC cars, my slot car track and cars, all my static models, and all my dad's stuff that he didn't take with him. I'm devastated, and mad at myself for not rescuing all that stuff when I had the chance. 1996-2003: Touring cars. So many touring cars. Also my first Clod Buster, which gets modified and rebuilt several times in several different configurations. Christmas 2006: My wife and I are newlyweds. I buy her a guitar, she buys me a re-re Grasshopper kit. 2008: I discover the world of scale crawlers. My Paypal account is quickly drained dry. 2010: I answer a Craigslist ad for someone selling five RC10s and several boxes of parts for $400, or trade for a brushless Traxxas Slash. I go buy a brand-new Slash, don't even open the box, and make the trade. Since then, it has been nearly all vintage or re-re vehicles that have interested me. 2022: I write a long article for The Autopian about the world of scale crawlers. Yesterday: An online friend offers me a Radio Shack Red Arrow, saying he wants it to go to "a good home." I happily accept. I'll let you all know when it gets here.

Strictly speaking, all RC cars are shelf queens - except the ones being run at this exact moment.

Well, I haven't had a chance to run any of them at my new home yet, but I have 1.8 acres to play with, so they'll probably never leave the property unless I take one on a trip. If SWMBO will allow it, I'd like to eventually build an actual track.

I've heard of worn-out industrial motors being "fixed" for a while by pounding out the bushings and re-installing them 180 degrees off, giving the motor shaft a "new" bushing surface to ride on. It's enough to get the motor going until you can replace or rebuild it.

That is exactly what I'm doing with mine, along with Grasshopper/Hornet front tires on all fours. It's only half finished, so I have no idea how well it works, but it looks great so far.

The standard Tamiya 5mm black ones, as well as CVA shock ends, are pretty stout. I've unsnapped and re-snapped them lots of times, and they hold up. What they don't like is being unscrewed and re-screwed onto the rods too many times. The little 4mm white ones, Hornet/Frog steering etc, wear out much quicker. You can only undo them half a dozen times or so before they start feeling weak when you pop them on.

Glad you got it sorted out! One thing to note for the future is to make sure the antenna wire for the receiver isn't touching any other wires, especially the ones from the ESC to the motor - even with modern radios, you can get noise/interference from the motor wires.

Is that extra gear from the Wild Willy still included in those kits? I know that has confused a lot of people over the years...

You definitely don't need tire foams. Those tires hardly flex even when you squeeze them. Can't really help with the rest, sorry. I have an old Boomerang and a re-re Bigwig, but they're both essentially stock.

Moving. Today we're packing up the second Pod with all our furniture, tomorrow we clean and have some junk picked up, amd Sunday we hit the road with the cats in the car. Five days later, we'll arrive in Maryland at our new house for good. This has been a month-long process; all the rest of our vehicles and about half our stuff (including all my RC stuff) is already there. Just one last push, and then we can concentrate on moving in rather than moving out.

A while back I checked out a new (to me) brick-and-mortar hobby shop. It was, of course, all RTRs except for a Kyosho Tomahawk kit. But they did have a bunch of display models out to pick up and fiddle with, including a mini JRX2. It was by far the most intriguing thing on display there, and I looked long and hard at it before leaving empty-handed. I'm still not entirely sure I won't end up with one. Do I wish it was 1/10 scale? Of course. Do I wish it was a kit, regardless of size? Even more so. But does it look and act the part? Yep. It's almost worth it just to squish that five-link suspension up and down.

Oh my, that is tempting. I have a scruffy original, but I used to have a near-perfect one amd sold it, and have regretted it ever since. Might have to think about this one...

So almost all my RC stuff is currently in boxes in my new garage in Maryland. I'm at the old house in Portland, with one car left - my old bitsa Hornet. Today, I had a little time to kill, so I charged up a battery, switched everything on, and got a total of fifteen seconds in before the cheap eBay S3003 knockoff servo packed it in. Fifteen seconds. It was brand new. Another one in the same package of 4 was dead on arrival. I can't remember which cars the other two ended up in, but when I unpack everything, I'll just throw them out too. No sense waiting for them to conk out in the middle of a run. Don't even bother with these things, or anything like them. They're all over eBay, they probably all come from the same factory in China, and they're all basically landfill. I should have known. I feel stupid, and I don't like being made a fool of. Hopefully someone else who was thinking of wasting money on this garbage will see this post and be spared $18 and a lot of hassle. And of course, there's no place to leave a product review on eBay. Whatever, at least it was a cheap lesson. It just annoys me.

Watching with interest... I used bigger versions of these machines for many years in the sign industry. Seriously considering picking one up when I have a place to put it. Feeds and speeds, cutter shape, and flute count are all sort of interconnected; mostly it's about getting the chips up and out of the work area as quickly and easily as possible. Lots of resources are available online to help you figure out what you need. But be warned - it is a BIG can of worms. As for travel speed above the material, that should be an adjustment you can make in the software. Not sure where it will be, but somewhere in the toolpath generation. It will give options for X/Y travel speed, Z (plunge) speed, and no-load or up-travel or something. You should be able to max that out so it just zips over to wherever the start of the next cut is.

You know what's funny about the Falcon? I've had two: one back in '87 after my brother abandoned it, and one maybe 15 years ago that I got from the consignment shelf at my LHS. Both were among the most reliable and good-running RC cars I've ever had. I always liked the tall tub sides and tight-fitting body that kept dirt out better than most cars. And it handles really well, especially for an all-plastic entry-level car. Neither of mine had the dogbone issues; my dad figured out while building the first one that you had to limit the travel of the rear shocks to keep the arms from over-extending. A simple 10mm piece of surgical tubing did the trick. So when I got the second one years later, I just rebuilt the shocks with 10mm limiters, and never had a single issue with it either. As for the front end breaking, my brother and I both drove the wheels off the first one and never had a problem. The second one had cracks in the eyes at the top of the front shock towers, but in those days you could still find parts trees without much trouble on eBay, so I replaced the shock towers, and that was that. I'm not sure what others were doing to break the whole front end off, but it must have been a lot of hard hits over a long period of time to do that kind of damage. I'd be sorely tempted by a re-re. It's a good car. And honestly I have no idea why they haven't done it yet.

At the moment, exactly one: a scruffy bitsa Hornet. Everything else is still in boxes at the new house, waiting for us to finish the move, and for me to build my new workshop/garage where the other 50 or so will be housed. However, the plan is to run them all, eventually. I think I may be close to being done buying cars; now I want to spend a decade or two wearing them out.

No photo (my toolbox is still in storage), but mine is a pair of small blunt-nosed pliers that are exactly the right tool for a lot of jobs. I use them to hold turnbuckles while I screw the ends on, pop ball joints into place, even install E clips. Had them since before I got my first Grasshopper. If I ever lost them, I'd almost have to quit the hobby. Almost.

Why not just look for a decent mid-grade RTR to see if you like it? Redcat, Carisma, Element, Axial, and Gmade all have decent options around $300. The included electronics are completely useable; you don't need more than that just to get your feet wet. You're not likely to break anything; we're talking jogging speeds. And they all come with perfectly good tires. If you like it, you can upgrade stuff if you want. If not, you aren't out nearly as much. (I used to be staunchly anti-RTR, but much like automatic transmissions, I have somewhat given in to the inevitable. Life's too short to be that contrarian all the time.)

That's really cool! I always wondered what happened to those display models after they were done.

Excellent news! Parma bodies were never the most detailed things around, but they were sure prolific, and had a huge variety. And Faskolor is still the best Lexan paint of all time. I'll be very happy to be able to get some again.

It's looking pretty good from my perspective. I've got all the cars I wanted when I was a kid (or have had them, wasn't fond of them after all, and sold them), in some cases multiples. After I move I'm going to build a new workshop, and set it up just how I like. And I'll have 1.8 acres of land, so I should have no problem finding a spot to build a track if I want, or plenty of space to bomb around freestyle if not. I'm not hard on my cars, so spare parts aren't a huge concern. And with fifty cars, if something breaks, it's not the end of the world if it's out of commission for a while; I'll just grab something else. Or make replacement parts myself if necessary. Apart from that, I don't really care what everyone else does. There are a couple of kits I'd still like to pick up if I'm able, but they aren't a huge priority. In years to come, I'll keep an eye out for sell-offs or estate sales if interest does wane. Other than that, I'm just going to have fun with my toy cars.