Nooby Saying Hi (and A Few Ramblings)

[Walsall-Basher]

Hi all, im baz, 38 and from the midlands. Recently had a little win on the poker and was wandering around Birmingham on my lunch break with a very burning pocket and stumbled across a Modelzone store. 10 minutes later and £180 lighter I emerged with a Hornet and all the rest of the gubbins in a package deal.

Lesson 1 was to shop around a bit after I checked out prices online!

I was still pretty delighted with the car anyway, my friend had one when i was 9 but I hardly ever got a go, 1 battery, 5 minute running times and overnight charges pretty much meant i had to be happy to watch. Couldn't convince my parents that a rc car was worth one of their weeks wages either.

Anyway my build went ok, I always bodge things so apart from forgetting to remove the plastic covering on the spoiler before I carefully applied the decals i was quite happy! First drive the car spent a lot of time upside down but to he honest a few scratches doesn't bother me. Anyway I loved the thing so much that I've now got slick tyres on the rear from donutting and attempts at powerslides.

Lesson 2 RC cars are addictive!

4 weeks i I've now got 3 cars, a bright pink lunchbox (pink as I bought it for my daughter, I even let her play with it sometimes!)

The build went good with that one, apart from the last few screws attatching the sunroof. Didn't check the manual and used the longer ones and ended up with them nearly poking through the roof. Sandpaper and car body filler sorted that out!

Lesson 3 check and recheck the instructions each stage!

Okay then I fancied something a bit sexier, postman brought a keen hawk 2 days later! I loved building this! (mmm ball bearings!)

Everything went fine apart from having no esc included (wools it did say on the product details) and the body shell. Decided to go with box art eventually ao popped along to Modelzone again, realised they are pretty rubbish in all truth as they only had a few primary colours, found a sexy can of humbrol chrome spray (compatible with polybods). Apart from if you spray inside it turned out as from inside it's beautifully glossy chrome, from outside it's old lady grey! Ok I'll spray the outside then, nice! Think it's dried, oh dear fingerprints, spray again, leave for a day, apply decals, oh dear they've all fallen off! Still fun to drive tho, can make it look pretty again when I know what im doing more!

Did think it'd be fun if it went faster tho, eBay, ezrun5.5t brushless, Woops now it goes like a stabbed rat! First test run was just now at some underused astroturf near me. Didn't go 100% perfectly tho, had a lot of hesitation before the real power kicked in each time, i mean like 10 seconds running like a silvercan before the whoosh kicked in, also seemed to be steering left during this lag period before taking off dead straight when the motor kicked in properly. Any ideas anyone?

Got another car on order now anyway, can't wait to smell that nib smell again!

Final lesson, rc cars are worse than crack! And more expensive!

Anyway thx for reading, hope to pick up some tips and knowledge to save me too many more pitfalls

[kaiser]

welcome!

you have been bitten by the bug, it's a tough disease to deal with. hide your new purchases from the wife!

[chris350z]

hi

Enjoy building a your new kit hope it all goes well.

Your life will soon be controled by r.c. lol

[Eddystone]

Loving your RC life story Baz. Had a good laugh at it - I'm liking your style - it all sounds very familiar to me. Shame you didn't get into RC while the MidlandModelCentre was still trading in Goodall Street. I was well gutted last time I went to Walsall to find it had closed down while I wasn't looking.

[Walsall-Basher]

Loving your RC life story Baz. Had a good laugh at it - I'm liking your style - it all sounds very familiar to me. Shame you didn't get into RC while the MidlandModelCentre was still trading in Goodall Street. I was well gutted last time I went to Walsall to find it had closed down while I wasn't looking.

It seems the recessions been pretty harsh to the hobby businesses. There's a sad closed down shop in stonnal near me, the chippy next door is still thriving tho. Did find a shop in Dudley where they seem to know what's what and got me an esc for my keen hawk at same price as any of the online shops. Didnt seem to have a lot of stock in tho tbh. Fair play though they are building an outdoor track I think tho not sure if thats finished yet. Could be good. Better than a car park anyway!

[SteelRat]

Welcome aboard Baz - some very familiar sounding stories there! You've definitely been bitten by the RC bug, and it sounds as if you're going to love the learning curve in building and modding just as much as playing with 'em - just like the rest of us