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Tamps

I have nothing... but want a monster truck

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Hi all... so... I always wanted a lunch box as a kid, but never had one. Now I have kids myself. 

Im looking to get a monster truck... and I’m starting from scratch! All in, I want to spend no more than £250. 

The lunch box is clearly high on the list... but what else should I be considering? 

Im also obviously going to be needing a radio, servo, esc, battery, charger... help... please!

Everyone seems to suggest getting the bearing set, so I’ll be doing that. 

Would appreciate any advice... and also to know what your lunch box set ups are and mods / hop ups. 

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If you've always wanted a Lunchbox, I doubt you'll be really happy with anything other than a Lunchbox, so I'd recommend one of those for starters. Maybe grow your fleet with other models further down the line.

Flysky GT3C radio, Alturn AAS700STD servo, stock ESC that comes with the kit, a NiMH battery and a multi-chemistry charger would be good starting points.

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54 minutes ago, TurnipJF said:

If you've always wanted a Lunchbox, I doubt you'll be really happy with anything other than a Lunchbox, so I'd recommend one of those for starters. Maybe grow your fleet with other models further down the line.

Flysky GT3C radio, Alturn AAS700STD servo, stock ESC that comes with the kit, a NiMH battery and a multi-chemistry charger would be good starting points.

So... Lunchbox £109 (no esc), flysky gt3c radio £45, alturn aas700std servo £8, Hobbywing quikrun 1060 brushed waterproof esc £20, enrich power 3000mah 7.2v battery £15, prophet sport mini 50w multi chemistry charger £32, ball race bearings £9. Total £238.

or... as above but Lunchbox £124 (stock esc). Total £233

Maths isn’t a strong point of mine, but I think that all works out right!

Does that sound pretty decent? 

Should I go for the stock esc option or the Hobbywing??

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Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The 1060 is waterproof, has a LiPo cutoff and can go down to 12 turns, so has a fair bit of scope for motor upgrades, as long as you stick with brushed motors as it lacks any sort of brushless compatibility.

The stock TBLE-02 on the other hand is neither waterproof nor equipped with a LiPo cutoff, but while limited to 25t in brushed mode, it can easily handle a 13.5t brushless, or a 10.5t if fitted with the optional cooling fan. And stand-alone LiPo alarms can be had for as little as 99p from China.

So, either option is fine for starters - it just depends on where you want to go in terms of motor upgrades further down the line - brushed or brushless?

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I agree with @TurnipJF advice. The ESC doesn't really matter, I have both and both work well. With kids you probably won't go for faster motors anyway so either is fine. I prefer brushless motors generally as they require no maintenance and are cheap to buy fast ones. I have a few Tamiya Super Stock 23T brushed which need a HW1060 but they are for specific cars which are setup with period correct hopups. 

I would think about the charger as they are something that you will have for years and if you buy the right one at the start then you'll save money longterm. I have 3 chargers, 2 are single and 1 is a dual so I can charge 4 batteries at once. In hindsight I should've bought a dual to start with. I run my cars at home with my son, and we both race hence the need to charge 4 batteries at once. Its a risk when starting out as you may run the car twice then put it on the shelf, or you may think its great fun andend up buying new everything and wished yiu had spent more initially.

A quick search of that charger and its US25 on Amazon, so you could get it cheaper, but you may want to look at other options, especially if your kids like the Lunchbox and you will end up getting more cars. Ideally you will want a charger per kid (you count as a kid too) so you can get all cars running at the same time. If you stick to NiMH (makes sense to start) then its not so bad as you can keep them charged, but we've now given up on NiMH after the packs died (used all the time for 3 years) since lipo is so much better.

SkyRC make some great chargers which are well priced. Look at the S60, D100 or Q200. They are the single, dual and quad versions. I know a lot of people with them and they have lasted years and work well. I have the S60 and my only regret is I should've bought the D100 instead.

I have the HTRC C240 which is a dual charger and really cheap for what it is. It cost me NZD90 delivered from Banggood, can use AC and DC power supply, 2 channel and charges even big capacity batteries at 1C or higher. My only concern is how long it will last, I've only had it 4 months but so far so good.

 

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1 hour ago, TurnipJF said:

Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

The 1060 is waterproof, has a LiPo cutoff and can go down to 12 turns, so has a fair bit of scope for motor upgrades, as long as you stick with brushed motors as it lacks any sort of brushless compatibility.

The stock TBLE-02 on the other hand is neither waterproof nor equipped with a LiPo cutoff, but while limited to 25t in brushed mode, it can easily handle a 13.5t brushless, or a 10.5t if fitted with the optional cooling fan. And stand-alone LiPo alarms can be had for as little as 99p from China.

So, either option is fine for starters - it just depends on where you want to go in terms of motor upgrades further down the line - brushed or brushless?

Well I’d say future would be brushless... so maybe I should be looking for a brushless motor and esc for the lunchbox then? But is it really worth it... maybe I can swap the motor into another vehicle in the future too.

 

26 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I agree with @TurnipJF advice. The ESC doesn't really matter, I have both and both work well. With kids you probably won't go for faster motors anyway so either is fine. I prefer brushless motors generally as they require no maintenance and are cheap to buy fast ones. I have a few Tamiya Super Stock 23T brushed which need a HW1060 but they are for specific cars which are setup with period correct hopups. 

I would think about the charger as they are something that you will have for years and if you buy the right one at the start then you'll save money longterm. I have 3 chargers, 2 are single and 1 is a dual so I can charge 4 batteries at once. In hindsight I should've bought a dual to start with. I run my cars at home with my son, and we both race hence the need to charge 4 batteries at once. Its a risk when starting out as you may run the car twice then put it on the shelf, or you may think its great fun andend up buying new everything and wished yiu had spent more initially.

A quick search of that charger and its US25 on Amazon, so you could get it cheaper, but you may want to look at other options, especially if your kids like the Lunchbox and you will end up getting more cars. Ideally you will want a charger per kid (you count as a kid too) so you can get all cars running at the same time. If you stick to NiMH (makes sense to start) then its not so bad as you can keep them charged, but we've now given up on NiMH after the packs died (used all the time for 3 years) since lipo is so much better.

SkyRC make some great chargers which are well priced. Look at the S60, D100 or Q200. They are the single, dual and quad versions. I know a lot of people with them and they have lasted years and work well. I have the S60 and my only regret is I should've bought the D100 instead.

I have the HTRC C240 which is a dual charger and really cheap for what it is. It cost me NZD90 delivered from Banggood, can use AC and DC power supply, 2 channel and charges even big capacity batteries at 1C or higher. My only concern is how long it will last, I've only had it 4 months but so far so good.

 

So I definitely need to look at a better charger then. Can I run Lipo in a lunchbox though? 

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yes, you can run LiPo in a lunchbox (You can you LiPo in pretty much anything with a shaped pack like those made by Core RC). I think you can even fit the square packs in them, so don't need to kept a Nimh shaped pack like you would for something like a thundershot. LiPo is definetly worth the money in the long run. They are lighter than NiMh, provide much more current, and generally last longer as well. When I first went LiPo to try and out drag a friend with an associated B4, I used to generally break the car before the battery went flat.

Are you really really sure it's got to be a Lunchbox ? The GF-01 is a much better platform, it's 4wd with double wishbone suspension all round still does wheelies, and is far more stable the lunchbox. The kit is more initial layout and would put you over budget, but it's so much better than the LB. 

 

 

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Get the Lunchbox. The only thing you'll need apart of the radio, battery packs, and charger is the AMPro axle bracket. That's all I can add to what's been already said by our friends here.

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All very, very good advice above,  however the LB is the best one to get 1st.

The GF01 is a much better platform @MadInventor is spot on with his advice, but if you buy this 1st you will still want a LB anyway. 

So buy the LB 1st and scratch that itch then 2nd purchase is a GF01 💥

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Most definitely not an expert here, my experience of this hobby is that things do break, having some spares is always good especially when nowadays we’re buying things on the internet and waiting a couple of weeks for things to turn up.

I decided to go with the GF-01 platform after a long time being away from anything RC this is why;

01 – A modern chassis design.

02 – 4WD, having all 4 wheels gripping and pulling I feel is worlds apart from my previous models (WR-02, Clod Buster & King Cab)

03 – A large pool of parts and bodies shared with other versions of the kit. (Toyota Land Cruiser, Dump Truck, bodies and parts from the WR-02 kits).

That being said, another option is to go for a used kit, someone has put it together and is selling it with a transmitter and battery ready for you to run, there’s a 2nd hand Lunchbox with a transmitter and battery going for £150 at the moment, all that’s needed is a charger.

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I was in exactly the same position as you about 2 months ago - it had to be the lunch box for me. You can see my build here.

I wouldn't overthink it - just get the lunch box and build it stock - you can always mod it later. The motor is fine, shocks are bouncy and the plastic bearings work ok. It's great fun as it is - but very good advice from everyone above if you want to improve it.

I managed to get the kit with esc for £99 - and the transmitter, reciever, battery, servo and charger for 55 all in. If you have no paints and brushes, that will set you back a minimum of £20 - assuming you go for tamiya paints.

It's fun to build and drive - and looks great. I didn't want to spend a fortune on the first kit - but it's definitely got hooked now.

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On 6/28/2020 at 10:07 AM, Tamps said:

Well I’d say future would be brushless... so maybe I should be looking for a brushless motor and esc for the lunchbox then? But is it really worth it... maybe I can swap the motor into another vehicle in the future too.

 

So I definitely need to look at a better charger then. Can I run Lipo in a lunchbox though? 

I wouldn't go for a fast motor in a Lunchbox, the kit stuff will be plenty for it.  Don't mod it to make it handle better (well, maybe oil shocks), enjoy it for what it is.  But you could buy a 13.5T brushless to see how it goes, and then put that in the next car, but it run it stock first. (I'm assuming that you'll either love it and have a few cars by the end of the year, or scratch the itch and run the Lunchbox twice and on the shelf it goes).

The charger you linked would work fine, it does NiMH and lipo and the 50w is ok, it will charge bigger batteries a bit slower than you normally would charge them with a better charger.  I would look for 60w and 6A charge rate minimum personally, as that will charge any 2S lipo that you would likely use.  Its more that its very basic, and if you get more cars you'll want to be able to charge more batteries.  You could buy it and factor in buying another one later when you get more cars and the kids all want to run them together.  With a single charger it'll take hours, compared to a charger per car/person and you can all be up and running in half an hour.

Just looked at it again, it needs a power supply.  You may have quoted that 42 pounds as including a power supply, I think where I've seen it for US25 it doesn't have one.

I think though that the Lunchbox is a perfect start since its the one you wanted as a kid.  If you buy a better one now you'll still want a Lunchbox, but then you may be disappointed with it if you get it second.

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4 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

I wouldn't go for a fast motor in a Lunchbox, the kit stuff will be plenty for it.  Don't mod it to make it handle better (well, maybe oil shocks), enjoy it for what it is.  But you could buy a 13.5T brushless to see how it goes, and then put that in the next car, but it run it stock first. (I'm assuming that you'll either love it and have a few cars by the end of the year, or scratch the itch and run the Lunchbox twice and on the shelf it goes).

The charger you linked would work fine, it does NiMH and lipo and the 50w is ok, it will charge bigger batteries a bit slower than you normally would charge them with a better charger.  I would look for 60w and 6A charge rate minimum personally, as that will charge any 2S lipo that you would likely use.  Its more that its very basic, and if you get more cars you'll want to be able to charge more batteries.  You could buy it and factor in buying another one later when you get more cars and the kids all want to run them together.  With a single charger it'll take hours, compared to a charger per car/person and you can all be up and running in half an hour.

Just looked at it again, it needs a power supply.  You may have quoted that 42 pounds as including a power supply, I think where I've seen it for US25 it doesn't have one.

I think though that the Lunchbox is a perfect start since its the one you wanted as a kid.  If you buy a better one now you'll still want a Lunchbox, but then you may be disappointed with it if you get it second.

Good advice in here! This is the starter electrical kit I bought - cheapest full setup I could find, and it's absolutely fine for the lunch box. The battery lasts at least 15mins and takes a couple of hours to charge. Servo has enough grunt, and the controller isn't bad at all. They send whatever they can source at a reasonable price.

I bought the kit from Frome models - was the cheapest I could find in the UK. But all out of stock.

You'll definitely want another model after this one, if you enjoy the build. That's the chance to customize and spend a bit more.


 

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On 6/27/2020 at 11:15 PM, MadInventor said:

yes, you can run LiPo in a lunchbox (You can you LiPo in pretty much anything with a shaped pack like those made by Core RC). I think you can even fit the square packs in them, so don't need to kept a Nimh shaped pack like you would for something like a thundershot. LiPo is definetly worth the money in the long run. They are lighter than NiMh, provide much more current, and generally last longer as well. When I first went LiPo to try and out drag a friend with an associated B4, I used to generally break the car before the battery went flat.

Are you really really sure it's got to be a Lunchbox ? The GF-01 is a much better platform, it's 4wd with double wishbone suspension all round still does wheelies, and is far more stable the lunchbox. The kit is more initial layout and would put you over budget, but it's so much better than the LB. 

 

 

You've all got me looking at the GF01 chassis now....... ****, hobbies are expensive. Is it just the land cruiser and the dump truck at the moment? 

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1 hour ago, jellon said:

You've all got me looking at the GF01 chassis now....... ****, hobbies are expensive. Is it just the land cruiser and the dump truck at the moment? 

Yep, just the dump truck and the land cruiser, I got my son a Dump truck for his 1st RC,  it's been run on and off for 3 years now and no breakages. Yes, hobbies are expensive, you start off with a lunchbox and then end up losing 3 years spare time building one of these. 

SAM_1015.jpg

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There was a GF01 SJ30 Jimny that you can’t hold of for love or money and there’s also been two chassis variants that are using it GF-01CB & GF-01TR.

TR ‘Trail’ has some portal axle that give extra ground clearance and also gear reduction, it might help off-road on obstacles like bigger twigs and small rocks. Currently a Monster Beetle body, looks great but expensive.

CB ‘comical buggy’ is the latest version, it’s a 4WD buggy – Avante comical reincarnation.

There’s also the 6WD G6-01, plus the bodies from the WR-02 work nicely on it too – Wild Willy 2 and VW camper.

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They all look a little bit too keen to wheelie and a bit light. I quite like the satisfying weight of the lunch box and the other older models. But I can see the handling looks way better on these.

Is that the Fury Road truck? Nice!

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Thanks for the help everyone. I’ve ordered an LB with a stock ESC. Still need to source the radio system, but ordered all other bits that people have mentioned, bearings, axle bracket etc. Ordered a spare body too... mainly so I can get the kids to paint one and use that, so they feel as if it’s theres too. Some bits are out of stock for a month or so... I assume this won’t make a world of difference during the actual build though... I hope! 

Ive seen that some put a sort of brace on the wheelie bar to stop it potentially cracking he gearing system... anyone where I can source one? 

I live quite close to Wheelspin Models... so I guess that’ll be my source for parts when the shops are properly open. Anyone have any experience with them?

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I don't need no crystal ball here to see you're going to have a MEGA time building and running that Lunchbox. :blob7: Such an awesome RC monster truck!

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So the build has started! Does anyone else do this with the bags? 

Ive bought a metallic silver and copper spray paints... not sure whether I’m going to layer the paints, or to get the masking tape out. This will be on the white body. The black body hasn’t arrived yet!

Also the servo and charger are on back order, big risk I guess not testing the electrics. Not having the servo is causing the build to slow down obviously.

oh... and have bought a radio system yet... I keep looking at the fly sky gt3c, but it doesn’t seem to be readily available in the uk. Are there equivalent alternatives anyone would recommend? Hoping to have at least one more car in the fleet come the end of the year! 

C7961614-6CE3-4FF2-A872-33DAF8534610.jpeg

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Buy the GT3 C for £40 delivered from China.

It the best value handset and you won’t have to trade up from it.

Comes with its own battery pack and a 10 r/x memory. 

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Get a flysky GT2E, works a charm does multiple receiver and works with 4 normal AA. If you only have a few cars its way easier to use. (I use it with 30+ have a GT3C as well but the GT2E is just easier to handle)

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its coming along nicely... decided to go with a copper. and also sprayed amd painted the rims. 

transmitter is now ordered... arriving friday. 

IMG-20200705-WA0019.jpeg

IMG-20200705-WA0023.jpeg

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Good color choice! For both, body and wheels, that is. I've painted a Sand Rover in copper and I absolutely love it. Keep 'em pictures coming as you get the Lunchbox ready. :thumbsup:

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So I’ve been running my lunchbox for a few months now, and love it, tried it on so many different terrains... my favourite terrain has got to be when down the park going from a hard well cut grass to a hard dusty dirt under the trees, love to see it powering into a slide, nearly drifting, and the dirt cloud billowing from the wheels. 

The shell has take some damage, a few scrapes here and there (glad I bought two shells), and at the screw point where the grill meets the body cracking after a high speed collision... repaired, and can’t really see the difference.

it is a lot quicker than I’d first expected, and I love slamming on the breaks when on tarmac to make her do a 180 before wheeling off in the opposite direction.

i often take her down the local play area with my kids, I only really trust my 8 year old with her in the back garden, and the play area adjoins a football field, so loads of space and less likely to crash. However, my 3 year old boy did some however manage to crash it into someone’s legs beforehand I managed to get to the radio. Otherwise, all good and no crashes, my 6 and 10 year old girls can’t quite get used to the controls, but practice practice practice, and they are showing signs of improvement. The lunchie is a kid magnet though, they all love it, I get random older kids just sitting next to me, or younger kids just chasing after her... I let them get close and wheelie away, the shock and laughs are brilliant!

i was thinking of maybe upgrading the motor, shocks etc, but in all honesty, Its not needed imo, and I’m happy with the set up... currently looking at other chassis / models that will give me more speed and better cornering and handling, I bought the lunchie for fun silliness, and it gives me that, so trying to get it faster etc is t really needed. 

Shes got the standard tin can motor, tble-02 esc, 25kg servo and 3000 nimh battery for the electrics, controlled via a flysky gt3c Radio (and associated receiver), the battery charger is a SkyRc s65. As mods go, not many, I added the ampro trans brace and also a few mm of rubber to the top of the dampers, ooh, and edit, I also added the full bearings kit... I am going to replace the body mounts soon.

oh, and I guess one of the biggest tips I can give, which I wish I’d have done the other day, I take the Tamiya tool out with you, it’s a must... the full wheel came loose and popped off the other day, and I could only hand tighten it... so always carry a little tool kit with you!!! 

Edited by Tamps
Added bearings kit.
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