17 replies to this topic

[boltsniper]

I recently built a new R/C car. This time an electric car. I have run nitro touring cars for a few years now and decided an electric car would be fun. The ability to run indoors and without the hassle involved with nitro cars was appealing.

Chassis: HPI Pro 4 Hara Edition
Motor: Novak Velociti 6.5R Brushless
ESC: Novak GTB
Receiver: JR R330S ZPCM
Steering Servo: JR Z8450 Ultra HIgh Speed
Batteries: Trinity 3700mah matched
Radio: JR R-1 Pro 3ch Computer

Shocks: Threaded Aluminum Racing shocks
Tires: Trued Foam
Body: HPI Lotus Elise

I finished it up today and snapped a few pictures. I ran it for a short run and was very pleased with its performance. It's very quick and I would guess the top speed to be close to 40mph or so.



















I do still have my nitro car. I have posted about it before a long while back.





Anyone else in to R/C cars at all?

Edited by boltsniper, 19 January 2006 - 07:10 PM.

[nerfer34]

I have a bunch of them but I don't really use them so I'm not really into it I guess. I do think that some of them are cool but I hate charging them.

[Uncle Hammer]

Love that ferarri body bolt. My friends race sometime. I know outdoor tracks even those electric cars can get going pretty fast.

[Pineapple]

Are you going to force me to 'bust out' all my old-school R/C stuff?

My Novak ESCs are so old, they have orange cases. And did you put your own processor fan on the ESC, or do they come that way now?

I still have my old BoLink Eliminator Gold Editon road car, converted to a dragster ('68 Camaro body). The o-ring front tires deteriorated and crumbled, and I'm too ashamed to show what the back tires look like.

Back in the day ('87 - '91) I was heavily into R/C, primarily electrics, and most of what I didn't sell off is from that era.

AIRCRAFT:

Kyosho Cessna 177 Cardinal ARF electric, no radio. Expensive static model.

BOAT:

Varicom "Firehawk" deep-vee (Scarab wannabe), Trinity Speedworks 14-turn motor, Traxxas ESC, Kyosho radio. My 'abuse master'.

CARS:

Tamiya "Hornet" low cost off-road buggy, converted to monster truck with Parma conversion kit, Lunch Box tires, no body. KO Propo radio, Traxxas ESC.

Bolink "Eliminator Gold" on-road chassis, dual shock, Speedworks 11 turn motor, set up to go straight, very fast. Topped out at 50 mph.


Bunches of old-school R/C parts. Stuff from my Kyosho Ultima Pro, Kyosho Optima Mid 4WD, Tamiya Blackfoot, Royal Crusher, and a homemade puller based on Clod Buster parts. Only parts remain, no complete cars.

I got out of R/C when I broke up with my ex-girlfriend (whose little brother I spent much time and $$$ into R/C), and my wife has basically endured all the boxes of "junk" (as she called it) being in storage for years. HPI was introducing it's "touring" series of cars right about that time, and Associated, Serpent, and some others were hopping on the bandwagon. I believe that touring cars is the most popular form of R/C right now.

Even if I wanted to, I cannot get back into R/C like I did when I was younger (and going to college and working three jobs). The stuff nowadays is super high-tech and high cost, and I'd be lucky if I could afford a set of tires (Drag tires in '91 cost 30 bucks a pair...for FOAM!)

Nice rigs, boltsniper. You must've won the lottery or something. Shaft drive 4WD? Whatever happened to in-line motor setups and ball diffs?


-Piney-

p.s.; I'm going to town tomorrow (my parent's house), I'll take some pix of my R/C stuff.

[boltsniper]

Wow. Hearing some of them names like "Clod Buster" and "Optima" takes me back. My first car was a Hunter. Similar to the Grasshopper and Hornet. So low tech but a blast to run. I also had a 4wd 4ws car called the Royal Ripper. It was kind of a piece so I sold it. One of my favorites was FWD CRX by Kyoshso. I still have that one and run it often. It's mostly epoxy now and brass now as it has broken so much... I used to race with my cousins and their friends when I was like 8 or so. Among them were original RC10's, clod busters, Ultimas, Optimas, and other late eighties RC cars and trucks.

I've had a few nitro buggy's in the past but never really got into them. They are fun to tool around in the dirt but I enjoy the on-road cars more.

That particular ESC comes with the fan. Surprised me too. Novak sells a wide variety of fans you can install. The technology is amazing compared to what it was 15 years ago. The ESC in the Pro 4 is fully programmable for dead band, drag brake, drive frequency, etc. The batteries I have are 3700mah Nimh. I remember when 1500 was amazing.

You're right about the tires. Ridiculous. About $10/wheel is the cheapest you will find. Some of them can be as high as $20/wheel. They really do make a difference though.

I never got into boats. No where to run them. I`ve been into planes jsut as much if not more than the cars. Planes give you the ability to build them from scratch or modify existing ones. I've built plenty of kits since I was 10 or so. After college I designed and built a plane with an oblique wing. A dsign that had intrigued me for a few years beforehand.



Yes. It flies. Quite tame actually.

Lately I have been getting into the micro aircraft area. One of my research topics is micro jet engines and I have been making som ducted fans with our rapid prototypers about 1" in diamater. I plan on building a small flying wing using these engines just to do it. There are some incredibly small servos and receivers out there now.










I`d love to see some pictures of your stuff!!!

[Lukeinator]

I'd love to be able to get somthing by HPI, but I can't afford it right now. I do however have an X-Mods. They can be customized with upgrades from the store (Radioshack, or the Source up here in Canada), or you can do some homemade stuff. I, personally have a toyota Supra that is painted Candy Apple Red with a CF hood and working doors. It's pretty fast for the size of the car, but anything by HPI could kick its ass anyday.

[Pineapple]

Okay, the only thing I could get out was my beloved Eliminator, with the Camaro drag body on it.


That's after I cleaned it up a bit (It was sadly sitting in my closet waiting to see the light of day again).



That's the back side, I think you can make out the wheelie bar and skids (used to have wheels, but they were a tad large...wheelie skids got the car recovered quicker in my opinion).

Good memories...although I probably won't be running any of my cars soon. I do live right next to the water, so I shipped my boat from my parents house back to my home on the other island.

I feel doomed to browse Tower Hobbies' website again. Last time I ordered from them there was no such thing as the Internet. Damn, I'm old.



-Piney-

[boltsniper]

Kick ass. That things looks beast. Any chance on a picture with the body off?

I remember back when all you had was the tower hobbies catalog and you would order something based on three words and no picture. You were never 100% sure of what you were actually getting until it arrived... Good times.

[cxwq]

My Novak ESCs are so old, they have orange cases. And did you put your own processor fan on the ESC, or do they come that way now?

That was *exactly* what I was thinking when I read his post...

I had an original RC-10L street car and my brother had a Hornet. Good times. I'd post pictures except the Hornet had an unfortunate run-in with a 1:1 vehicle and I sold the 10L back in my starving student days.

[theyellowdartmti]

Pineapple: Is that car electric or nitro? Unless i've misread and you said it already.

-dart

Edited by theyellowdartmti, 26 January 2006 - 10:23 PM.

[Uncle Hammer]

I belive it's a nitro.

Edited by Uncle Hammer, 26 January 2006 - 11:21 PM.

[boltsniper]

Bolink "Eliminator Gold" on-road chassis, dual shock, Speedworks 11 turn motor, set up to go straight, very fast. Topped out at 50 mph.

The elimnator was an electric pan car. I have heard of people converting them to nitro though. Although I have never actually seen one converted...

[notorious oxide]

I am thinking about buyin an electric RC car. I would like a 1:10 scale. Would someone please be able to tell me a little about them and where a good place is to buy one (im in Adelaide, Australia)
Thanks in advance.

Edited by notorious_oxide, 29 January 2006 - 06:22 AM.

[PissBacon]

It all really depends on how much you want to spend, and where you're racing it around, oxide.

[notorious oxide]

I suppose i should have been a bit more specific. What i would like to know is what surfaces they cant run on, anything that can F**k them up like dirt getting in them, i already gathered that water is bad. Anything in general and things i should be aware of. I have seen my friends nitro go out of range and it was funny, for me, not for him, so i know not to let it go far. I am just going to get a normal rc, no monster truck/ buggy shit.

[Pineapple]

I suppose i should have been a bit more specific. What i would like to know is what surfaces they cant run on, anything that can F**k them up like dirt getting in them, i already gathered that water is bad. Anything in general and things i should be aware of. I have seen my friends nitro go out of range and it was funny, for me, not for him, so i know not to let it go far. I am just going to get a normal rc, no monster truck/ buggy shit.

Electrics are way more forgiving than nitro cars when it comes to dirtiness and stuff, IMO.


My main rule...anything goes; except for SAND. No, no, no.

R/C cars + sand = death.

Pretty much everything else puts a bit of grimy dirt on an electric. Clean asphalt pavement, concrete, even (purpose made) carpet tracks. But a quick wipe down with a towel, and a shot or two of electric contact cleaner (in the motor, clean brushes and comm) made for many hours of buzzing around.

I miss my electrics.


-Piney-

PS; Boltsniper; I found my chargers, I have 2 Astro Flight multi-chargers; do they still make those? And my 6-cell packs are all 1400 mAh DuraTraxx packs, my race pack was a 7 cell 1700 mAh Kyosho pack.

[boltsniper]

I run my nitro car is the rain all the time. As long as you keep the receiver dry you should be fine. I had mine in a box. the servos are sealed well and can get wet. The same with everything else. I don`t run my electric in the rain because there is a little more open circuitry.

If you want something off-road, then I wouldn`t even worry about anything. The radio is packed in a box so nothing can get to it. The trucks and buggies ar built amazingly tough and can survive most anything.

Astro flight still makes chargers. Probably not the ones you have anymore though... My dad has a Astro Flight charger he uses to charge Li-Po batteries.

Notorious, check out tower hobbies. They are the leading hobby products retailer. The carry most all brands and have very good prices.

You can also checkout the websites of HPI, Kyosho, and Associated. There are many other makers but those 3 are the eladers in my opinion.

[Uncle Hammer]

Bolt my friends and I are starting to get back into cars. I never had one but he just fixed up his nitro tc3 and I really wanna get some type of stadium truck. I was thinking about either getting one of the traxxas ones or the rc10gt from associated. My friend tells me that traxxas aren't as upgradable as other models. Can you gimme some advice on what car I should look into. My price range is about 250 or so and it needs to be RTR.