Mrowka

I see that as a good thing, or at least as having a positive side to it. Replacement and modification parts for the Slash are cheap, available and plentiful, and there are all kinds of things you can do with a Slash, all kind of directions you can take it. Scale, drag racing, crawler, etc..

Well, for Christmas, my little man got a Traxxas Slash kit, which he built, doing probably 90% of the work by himself. It was a legit kit, for whatever that is worth, and my son could be genuinely proud. He loves that thing, and I have to say that it has proven to be stout, so far. The suspension works better than in his Super Sand Dragon (rebodied Hornet) and it has probably been tougher. He loves that buggy as well.

I'll second the above and go one more: Any additional grease is likely to trap any dirt or grit that gets in the bearings and keep it there. This can be a good thing. I often put a thin layer of grease inside gearbox covers, to trap dirt that gets past the rubber seal and keep it out of the gears themselves. This is good. For bearings, that grease would keep the dirt inside the bearings. This is not so good.

I'd be happy to drive a vintage shell on a modern chassis.

I'll take "What are 'Posers'?" for $500 and the Daily Double, Alex!

I just buy a separate Fky Sky GT2 for each new model. Then the kids and I can race. If I look around, they are sometimes available for a few dollars each, especially used. I just buy them when I find one for cheap.

At least you all have a LHS. Nearest to where I live is around 3 hours away.

Most of my buggies use Flysky GT2s of various sorts. Not much in the way of features, but all have worked flawlessly so far.

My father was a professional pilot. As a little boy, I would ask him what the best airplane was. The answer always was the same: "it depends on what you want to do with it." In some applications, a Piper Cub is a better airplane than an F-15.

Same. I put the dampers together (red or gold), added shock oil, closed up and that was that.

Glad you are feeling well enough to enjoy things again!

Do tell.

The ARRMA sensorless ESCs are powerful and work well. Reliability is an issue. They often can be found on ebay as pulls from RTR stunt truggies.

I have done something like that with repairing broken model helicopter frames.

FWIW, my little man was fascinated with the helicopters that I fly. I figured that a copter was probably too much for a preschooler, so I started him with a cheap rock crawler. Slow, easy to drive, and fun to drive over things. Then, he graduated to an RC28 before getting a Tamiya.

I use I use Tamiya Subaru Brat tires, mounted on Optima wheels. Works dandy.

Doesn't have to be 4WD.

In my case, it helps that my wife runs the house like children's prison.

Any articles about the Hobbytown scandals? Any articles about the Hobbytown scandals that you can link?

My little man (age 8) wants another buggy for Chirstmas. He has built a much-loved Super Sand Dragon, and really has his little heart set on an Optima Mid, which is probably a bit complicated and spendy for him at this stage. Any suggestions? Since he has a 2WD, I'd like to get him a 4WD if possible, and a kit so he has something that he can build. Something reasonably tough and with good parts availability. Doesn't have to be Tamiya or Kyosho. I am open to ideas. I live in the States, for whatever that's worth.

Well, once my LHS gets done closing (December 1, IIRC) the nearest LHS will be some three hours away by interstate.

The last LHS in my city is closing down as well. Didn't carry Tamiya, just the usual Traxxas RTRs, FWIW.

If it doesn't have to be Tamiya, I'd take any of the Optima or Ultima re res. Tough, fast, capable, holds big brushless power, lots of upgrades available, Kyosho quality plastics and machining.

Please do not scare me.

Broke the front strut tower on my Optima Mid re re.