Best value starter kit bundles?

[daveflave]

Hi Guys,

I would like to buy my 12 year old nephew a Tamiya kit with radio gear etc.  His brother passed away last week due to a long term illness and he needs cheering up.  He has always wanted an RC car but because of family priorities they can't afford one.

What good (UK) deals are out there at the moment?  I was thinking a Neo Scorcher would be a good as he could play with my son and his Thunder Shot?  Any thoughts or advice is very welcome as I have only recently just got back into Tamiya RC cars.

 

Regards, Dave

[Willy iine]

Sorry to hear, my condolences @daveflave.

Neo Scorcher is a great all around car for bashing around the house.  I have one and it’s been great.   Lots of hop-ups options too for him to enjoy long term!

[alvinlwh]

The general advise is not to go for bundles as, while they appear to be good value at first glance, they are actually made up of cheap parts thrown together. The Neo Fighter is currently £75 on Amazon, and throw in a servo, radio, bearings, etc, will bring it to be around the kit price of a Neo Scorcher. It already comes with CVAs, ESC and a TT motor.

The NS is a great choice like Willy had said, but just throwing some thoughts around. You mentioned your son has a Thunder Shot, that is a buggy while the Neo Scorcher is a jacked up/tall TT-02. It is somewhat less able off road than the TS (of course it depends on your driving surface). The TS is 4WD while the NF is a 2WD. Are them two the kind to share? Having a different drive could allow them to swap and try each other's cars out. I have a DT-02 which is very different to drive to my Thunder Dragon (same chassis as your TS).

[Jonathon Gillham]

Sorry to hear @daveflave, thats an awful thing for a 12yo to be dealing with. What a great way to help cheer him up.

Usually I'd say avoid the starter bundle as they usually have some less than ideal products in there, but in this case its probably a good idea. The main issue is the charger, they normally provide a very limited one which is slow and doesn't offer half of what a slightly better one will do. In this case though, sticking with NiMH and a simple charger is a good thing to keep things simple and safe for your nephew. 

I'm guessing it will be a middle of the road spec one as the cheapest often come with an 1800mah battery or similar, if the battery is 3000mah or above then it should be fine.

Any of them should be fine, we used to run the old S3003 BiTD with plastic gears 3kg and .2sec and they were fine for us back then. I'm not UK based so not entirely sure of the shops and deals.

[Kol__]

Ah mate, that is such sad news. Good on you for planning to offer him some distraction by joining you and your son for some RC action. The TT02B would be a good option, but tbh I'd go with the Neo Fighter on Amazon. He'd be just as happy with that and for the money it is far, far better value. It comes with Torque Tuned motor, ESC and CVA oil shocks, so additionals required would simply be battery (go for at least 3000mh NiMH) and charger £20-30 and Transmitter and receiver £25-30 and Servo £7-15. Check out JK-RC online, they have a Pulse trigger style TX/RX for £25 with free delivery - in general they are a very good supplier with mostly very decent prices (and no I don't work for them, lol)

[DaveBuildsRC]

tt02 on road.

[alvinlwh]

TTM offers bundle deals that allow customisation. 

https://www.timetunnelmodels.com/live/catalog/tamiya-58568-scorcher-buggy-tt02b-chassis-complete-deal-bundle-radio-controlled-p-54641.html

Here is the bundle "adjusted" for a better package. 

TBH, even when customised, the options they have are not that great. 

[daveflave]

Thank you for all you replies.  I am really looking forward to spending time with my son and Alexander.  I ended up buying the Neo Fighter off Amazon and sourcing the rest of the items separately.  Hopefully everything will arrive early next week so I can surprise Alexander with it soon   He loves his car collection and Lego so an RC car he can build will be perfect!

Cheers, Dave

 

[wun1jee]

AMain has the TT02 Toyota 86 for $99 USD. I think that works out to about 75GBP? 

Which, considering it includes a $30 ESC is an absolutely incredible deal!

AMain also ships internationally.

 

If you don't want to deal with international shipping, it seems most other dealers have that same kit for around the same price. If the 12yo has good roads/parking lots to drive on that'd be my suggestion. Plus the TT02 has enormous amounts of aftermarket support so there's tons of fun to be had after the original build. 

 

Edit: Ah, you replied while I was replying! Haha. Good buy on the Neo Fighter! He's going to love it.

[Nikko85]

Neo fighter looks amazing for the money. Really good thing to do for the lad. 

[alvinlwh]

1 hour ago, wun1jee said:

AMain has the TT02 Toyota 86 for $99 USD. I think that works out to about 75GBP? 

Will work out closer to £120+ after postage, VAT and import "fines" are added in.