Anyone into R/C?

New headlights made to order! After that, skid plate, fender liners, interior, grill, scoop, pretty much everything, really.

 

Replaced that jittery Hitec with a decent priced and much better performing Chinese servo. Same dimensions as the Hitec, better specs and much quieter.

Came with a nice assortment of horns but had to use the kit horn due to space constraints and it was nicer anyway.

Painted it yesterday and stickered it up today. This is as close up as I will allow any pics to be taken.


Can't believe I never got into buggies earlier, this is as much or more fun than any of the crawlers and big tire go fast bashers i have. Just ordered Kyosho's 2wd cheap buggy based off the R5 for kicks. I like the fact they don't flip over nearly as easy and jump way better.

 

My younger cousin is visiting from Germany and it’s been raining a lot. So I did what any good relative would do and went out got some cheap RC cars. Settled on some Traxxas LaTrax Rally cars, they are kind of neat - a handful indoors. Should have gotten a pair of SCX24’s though.

 

Grass was too tall to run this weekend. it was tall enough that it clogged the PCS sensor on the big truck.

But the headlights and taillights were looking good.

 

This showed up today, Sunday delivery from USPS, never expected it until Tuesday.


Stock seems to be selling out quick on these, $200.00 minus electronics is a pretty good deal. It's reviewed as all plastic but that is not the case. There are some plastic parts, but the structural bits are like a carbon infused plastic. The RB5 that it mimics has full carbon-plastic assembly.
Full bearings, minus the steering gear assembly (Has plastic-metal bearings, their words, not mine) which I ordered ahead of time. You'll need 4-5x8x2.5 bearings for the steering gear, otherwise it has legit bearings for the transmission and wheels.
The instructions are extremely poor for a kit, you really gotta reference the parts diagram as none of the parts are numbered on the trees. However, there is a 1:1 scale set of pics on the side of each step to help with the confusion.

Took 4 hours to get this far, but i did have lunch somewhere along the way and had to redo all the tie rod ends as there are 8 short and 8 long ends and I had a mix of both on the tie rods and upper links.
For the record, the front end link assemblies are all short rod ends. The long ones are for the rear.
Otherwise, the kit seems to be of very good quality for the price point.

It'll have the same electronics package as the Optima Mid, except for the servo, will try the Airtronics that i have since it's 2wd.

 

also, for a comparison, the Optima Mid link-assemblies are all right hand threads for both ends which makes adjustments a pain as you have to disconnect one end.
The Dirtmaster has adjustable metal links with rh/lh threads, so there is that. Kind of odd they would include that on a cheap kit but not on a higher end kit of almost double the cost.

 

Fun build despite the less than adequate manual. called for 30 weight oil, ended up with 50 weight to keep it from bottoming out in the jumps. Worth the money for the fun factor it has, this will be my go to bash buggy. Crazy drift in the dirt and loose gravel. Added bonus that both buggies can fit the same battery.

 

That went together pretty quick.

 

Really wasn't that many parts, no front diff and no drivetrain. It went faster towards the end with less pieces to sift through and more familiarity with the parts trees.
I thought the 2wd would be faster than the 4wd with less gears and stuff being turned, but nope. The Optima mid is much faster.
The Optima gear ratio is 8.28 and the Dirt Master is 8.23. Both stock.
Both running 27T Axial motors with Quicrun 1060 and the same 2s battery.
Tires are slightly smaller on the Optima, but it weighs almost a pound more.
I'll have to check the slipper on the 2wd and see if it's loose.

 

Building a kit, fun, relaxing, mild challenge.
Cutting the polycarbonate body, patience and a bit of sandpaper and they aren't too bad.
Masking off the windows and getting it centered, straight and even, pain in the ass.

 

Black, yellow, or white for the wing? Kind of leaning towards black and maybe painting the wheels to match.

 

Could leave the wheels white and do a black wing with a white Kyosho decal on it to tie it all together.

 

good call, that's kind of where i was headed as well. Went with black on the wing, it's curing now. The kit comes with both black and white decals so that should work out well. Not using all the decals provided, gonna keep it more simple and clean. Kind of shooting for this look, minus the large ULTIMA decal as it's not included.

 

Dropped a 20T Dynamite in it today. Much power and fast. Haven't even finished the body yet and gonna run out of tire if i don't stop playing in the street.

 

I made an impulse buy and nabbed an Associated SC28.

I’ve been curious about them for awhile, even if they are “toy grade”. So far I’ve been getting a kick out of it indoors. It can be hard to control on tile, but on foam squares it’s a little ripper, just sticks to it like glue.

 

Good to hear about buggies! I pre-ordered the Tamiya BBX months ago and am still waiting for that.

My parents went to Japan and got me some presents:



They don't know anything about RC but still picked an awesome chassis! They also didn't know I already had a radio system so they bought me one. It will be a cool little display piece, though. I've got bearings, ESC (1080 G2) and motor coming in.

Also got the FMS K5 Blazer I pre-ordered last month:

 

It been a somewhat expensive weekend. Wanted a short course truck so went and checked out Sentons in person - but they are too big for what I want. Horizon has the brushless Losi Mini T’s on sale so I said screw it. It’s way faster than I was expecting lol, I don’t know how often I’ll use it - but it is fun.

Today the itch came back for a smaller SCT so I ordered a supposedly NIB Axial Yeti Jr Score off eBay.

 

I loved mine and would pick up another i got bored turned it into a side by side project... Got the link

 

I used this seller:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/3133094296...=2047675&ssuid=&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY

Its supposed to be here Monday so we'll see, its been a long time since I got something off ebay.

 

The electronics aren't much to write home about. Look for a sindwinder mini and a receiver of your choice.