Costs

[hickston]

Lol, ok, you dont have to be honest if your wifey reads the boards, but I'm just curious about how much ppl spent to get to a decent standard of racing???

I ask because 'I' want to be good, but since I re-started, my dad, my son and my wife also want to play (not counting the 14mnth old who no-doubt will want to play too since his 2 words are car and hiya!!!). (anyone up for babysitting and at bury and southport while me, the wife and my dad race btw please apply here!!!???)

Pops pays for his own stuff
I pay for my own stuff

Whats the cheapest and best way to get the wife, 14 yrs old and (god bless him 14 mth old) into the sport?

Cheers
Stu

[emzy]

(anyone up for babysitting and at bury and southport while me, the wife and my dad race btw please apply here!!!???)


How much do I get paid? ;)

[hickston]

Standard rate lol, whatever that is!!! 4 pack of stella!!!

Stu

[bigred5765]

i find the easyest way to get the wife in to the sport is, to take her to southport when we go, then she pops out to the local shops works a treat

[jimmy]

little as possible, but always get the best kit.

When I started I had a 14 turn LRP motor (30quid), KO 2123 servo (95quid) and a LRP quantum prosport (110quid) in a 2nd hand losi XXX..


The 2nd hand LOSI xxx was an AWESOME buy, it came with loads of bits - this is really the way to start racing.. buy a car that comes with bits and a few wheels and tyres maybe..

As for electrics, as I got better i realised the Quantum pro wasnt good enough, it was "soft" with any half-decent motors. So I got a 2nd hand Novak TC2 which is a top end esc- i paid less than half what i paid for the quantum pro.
There is certainly no need to spend 95quid on servo, just make sure you get a metal geared one, and preferably a 2nd hand KO rather than a cheap hitec or something.


Motor wise again, a good 2nd hand motor would be better than a new cheap one I think. A Peak Vantage style motor is the best to start racing with since it requires less looking after than most - by a long way. 19turn spec motors are great for starting off road and give plenty of speed.


Right now for my B4 - which I am taking to the Euros. I have a 2nd hand RTR B4. 2nd hand Keyence ESC (180quid esc, cost me 70), 2nd hand 3700 cells from someone upgrading to 4200's and 2nd hand KO servo.
My motors are mostly 2nd hand also, I have 4 Peak Vantage motors and a few old Reedys.


My wife races a B4 now also with 100g of lead installed - with similarly good quality but used components, mostly donated. She uses my old tyres since her car isnt fast enough to need newer ones at the moment.

[BenG]

its great ytour family want to ge tinto RC with you matey, dont tkae that for granted;)

I am actually writing an article of "how to get into RC- the complete guide". However, it isnt completed yet.

When I started racing( touring cars) I started out with a Team spec car. This could then be upgraded, as my driving improved, to a factory team, which has all the blue bits and lightweight parts. I have since then had several touring cars. One thing I have only jjust chaged in 4 years of racing is my servo. I bought a £35 Hitec 645MG. Its a simple, metal geared servo thats only just broken in 4 years:o Also, spending a little more on your speedo can get you life time warranty, which is always a good thing. Saying that, check eBay, as you can still buy second hand with the warranty card. Also check eBay for cars, parts, accesories as they maybe sold at considerably reduced prices. Also see rcmart.com , a hong kong model shop, and is very cheap

Cheers Ben

[emzy]

Standard rate lol, whatever that is!!! 4 pack of stella!!!

Stu

Make it Smirnoff Ice or WKD and I'm yours :p

I actually get paid about 4 or 5 quid an hour next door... £20 for an evening... for doing nothing :) Sounds a bit like my real job (Children's Library... finger painting and cutting out! Yay!)

[RobHatcliffe]

Stu

If you let Emily look after little Oliver at race meetings he'll end up being able to speak about 4 different languages, all with a North East accent (only kidding Em:p ). You know that we'll help you to keep an eye on the little fella when we can.

It's great that your family are keen Stu, when your older lad starts racing too we'll have to ask Roger to put on a family challenge race, 3 Hatcliffe's vs 3 Hurley's

I've managed to put together all our stuff on a budget, very few of our major items were bought brand new. Obviously the consumables have to be bought new though.

Ebay is ok, but I've found that there are fewer real bargains to be had. With you and Jeff both running Losi cars, keep an eye open for anyone selling a job lot of parts. I got lucky and won a load of B4 bits for me and Curtis, paid £35.00 for about £100 worth of stuff.

A really good option is the For sale / Wanted section on this website. Stick a wanted ad up and you WILL get a response. The beauty of this forum is that most of the users race at regional and national level, so you know their gear is well prepared and looked after. My Dad put a wanted ad up for a speedo, he had two offers within hours, and had his replacement speedo in his hand by the end of that same week.

Third option is to keep your ears open at the club, there's generally someone selling something and I've got some real bargains from fellow Bury members.

See you soon

Rob

[DCM]

Reet, being a little bit of an expert on this.... what with me and three kids wanting to race..... just think of RC Gear as a food chain.

When you want your kids/wife to have something, make sure you got it, buy yourself something to replace it, and they get the used item.

Always, ALWAYS run the same cars, so if off-road, use ALL B4's or XXX CR's or whatever, it cuts down on spares, wheels and arguments.

eBay is your freind when buying stuff... Haggle, I just got two NiMh/niCd/LiPo.Lead Acid, digital chargers for £100, new.

Scour ads for bargains, and if you can, when you buy things, but in multiples to haggle and save on postage.

Cells, buy power bricks (unmatched boxes of cells) you can save nearly 50% on a pack doing that.

Motors, you don't need top flight spec stuff, go for the more 'budget' motors and buy two for the price of one Pro motor.

I will try to think of more.

[tc2k]

Look around your local club. When I wanted to start offroad racing late last year I asked around for anyone selling Buggies. I found a great deal, I got a Used Team B4, 2 packs of Sanyo 2000's (crappy), a 19t V2 Motor (little use), an acoms radio, a acoms servo and a GM v3 for 65quid! If you go to a club or check ebay theres bound to be some great deals so browse around and ask anyone selling.

[losixxx]

have to disagree there dcm, there plenty of matchers out there selling excellent matched (far better) cells than unmatched one's for really good prices £35 upwards, the matched cells will give you better peerformance and perform for more charge's so it can be false economy buying unmatched . and i think its better to have 1 or 2 really good top draw motors than 3 or 4 cheap and nasty one's the good one's should well outlast the cheaper versions and more importantly out-perform them.

[wacattack]

I just got back into it and it cost me around about £600 all in. However, this was all top end stuff (some new some second hand) so can be done much cheaper.

Set yourself a budget and try to stay within it. If you are just starting out you dont need to spend '00s.

Best thing to do is shop around, find the bargains. Ebay can be a great source for cheaper stuff.

[DCM]

yes, there are one or two, and thats that, who can sell you matched packs for not much more, but if you speak to the smaller firms and wanted to, say, buy 30 cells off them, unmatched but labelled, you can match them pretty darn good. I have been in this game sine 1989, and 10 years ago, matched was the way to go, now, with cells SO good, you only get a small performance gain using matched, small enough for the majority who don't do nationals, not to worry about.

Some matchers are glad to get the loose cells from the last batch that they couldn't match up.

If your on a budget, you got to buy the most equipment for the least cost.

[losixxx]

maybe but you've always got the chance with unmatched cells of 1 cells being poorer than the rest thus making the pack performance lower and life span less. for the very small difference in price matched in my opinion is far better. i use excellent matched ib3800s that are approx £35 a pack

[BenG]

have to disagree there dcm, there plenty of matchers out there selling excellent matched (far better) cells than unmatched one's for really good prices £35 upwards, the matched cells will give you better peerformance and perform for more charge's so it can be false economy buying unmatched . and i think its better to have 1 or 2 really good top draw motors than 3 or 4 cheap and nasty one's the good one's should well outlast the cheaper versions and more importantly out-perform them.

Right on. I bought some unmatched cells, that were good for around 5 races, and then the power went down. I got lapped by a bog standard £150 tamiya, and I have a £500 car, not including radio LOL.

[DCM]

I won't comment on how much I paid for post-matching, labeled but unmatched IB4200SHV's then. I am not saying to go out and buy random cells, like you can from some Asian sites, but to speak to matchers (smaller ones) and get a bargain.

[losixxx]

doesnt really matter to me if you paid £1 a cell i still wouldnt use them, probably ok for club nights but nothing else imoa. just ask all the peeps at oswestry national who were dumping if they wish they had better cells! ive got 4 packs of good cells that is all i beleive you need for a season. use them twice a day and they should be fine.

[Southwell]

maybe but you've always got the chance with unmatched cells of 1 cells being poorer than the rest thus making the pack performance lower and life span less. for the very small difference in price matched in my opinion is far better. i use excellent matched ib3800s that are approx £35 a pack
I agree, i used to buy unmatched 2000's and out of 5 packs 3 cells died within a few months, they were very good for the price but i wouldn't use them these days with the ultra high capacity cells. I only used matched cells now.
I was coming off with 1400MAH with a 9x2 at Oswestry and i wasnt going that easy on the throttle :D

[losixxx]

I agree, i used to buy unmatched 2000's and out of 5 packs 3 cells died within a few months, they were very good for the price but i wouldn't use them these days with the ultra high capacity cells. I only used matched cells now.
I was coming off with 1400MAH with a 9x2 at Oswestry and i wasnt going that easy on the throttle :D

gear it up then m8:D

[Southwell]

Lol, i did that at tivvy and the motor went in one run :D

[DCM]

Best we agree to disagree :D

[BenG]

I agree, i used to buy unmatched 2000's and out of 5 packs 3 cells died within a few months, they were very good for the price but i wouldn't use them these days with the ultra high capacity cells. I only used matched cells now.
I was coming off with 1400MAH with a 9x2 at Oswestry and i wasnt going that easy on the throttle :D

What batteries have you got?:D

[Southwell]

What batteries have you got?:D
My sponsor's Team Almighty :D
You can buy the same cells that i use too, not just selected for the team drivers :)

[losixxx]

there way to expensive m8 :p :D

[Southwell]

£56 for factory team ones and BUILT :O not bad if you ask me :P

[BenG]

No, that is good, I bought some nosram 3700 Factory team for £50, and they cost a fiver to be built up. Does anyone know if team scream cells are any good?:confused:

[DCM]

They are the same as anyone elses, local guy, well 15 miles from me. They actualy come from the States and he distributes.

[jim76]

i bought multiple packs from team almighty and he threw in free assembly. nice bloke.

i generally run with matched cells to get the life out of them. but i also had a £60 set of peak worlds and one cell dropped out after about 3 charges. not happy!
i wouldn't recommend buying random loose cells unless you are a beginner club racer. But i can see Steve point from the local matchers and it sounds like a good idea.

[losixxx]

as i said ian too expensive m8:p

[DCM]

I do appreciate the points being made, but I just had a look at my loose cells, which I put into packs myself, and with the 'randomness' ot the cells, each pack is within 5 seconds runtime and 0.002v AV, what I have been trying to say, if you buy enough (I had 30 loose cells) that is enough to get a pretty good match (as good as you would probably get from club grade cells).

Like I said before, make sure they got labels on, so you can at least get 'similar' cells together, unlabled single packs.... run away with your arms in the air shouting AAAAAAAAAARRRRGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

[Spencer Mulcahy]

Must agree with DCM here if you are not sponsored and you can get a bargain go for it if the cells are close to each other on the printed readout and you can solder the packs together yourself and discharge them after every run they should be ok. I run three packs of cells all year in both 2wd and 4wd and never had a problem oh and snoring cars in winter. I can never understand why people have 15 to 20 packs of cells, I would just get confused which where charged.:D

[hickston]

More confusion here too, i have 4200 cells..dont discharge, dont balance, dont charge more than 3 times a day(it sais so in the manual!!)...sometimes i take to the track on a wing and a prayer. when that charger sais 700mah, i shit myself. So far, everthing has been ok, but my battery management skills are minimal. I just want to race!!

Bought from losipartshouse.com (sorry Jimmy, dont mean to advertise)...£ arounnd 30 quid and the Customs/VAT man didnt notice it comming in...lovely!!!

Ta
Stu

[DCM]

IB42's

EQUALISE
Charge at 6A (linear not stepped)
Use
Discharge to 5.4V
Store
(put 10mins of charge in if being left more than 10 days...ish)

Oh, just built me five packs of matched by me, processed by Team Almighty and I got between 4675 and 4725 for all the packs.

[YoungChazz]

We were raising a family when Paul started R/C, and there wasn't a ton of $$$ lying about. If we had it to do over, the first thing we'd do would be to assess whether this would be a long-term thing or a passing fancy. Always hard to do...

The adage is: Buy the best or buy twice. Or three times if wisdom comes slowly, as it usually does with me.

I'd buy the cheapest used car I could find and two used packs of cells. Maybe an inexpensive tool or two. I'd go to the track and ask people to charge my batteries. I'd borrow tools, etc. for the first club meeting. I know it's a pain, but I'd explain we're trying this out for size, and, at least in the US, we'd get plenty of willing help.

About the third meeting, if it seems the bug is biting, then buy the top stuff. I'm talking power supply, chargers, soldering iron, wrenches, etc. It works right and you only spend the $$ once. Stick with the used car & electronics until skills advance, but spend a $$ to bullet-proof it. It doesn't need to be fast at this point, but it does need to survive the punishment you'll dole out.

Get a good table, "the" light, an EZ-up, decent chairs, large cooler, etc. Racing's no fun when you're uncomfortable.

After a season is the time to upgrade car, electronics, batteries etc. if you're still bitten. Then, again, go all new and top of the line.

Many people buy stuff new and used from others and on the net. As a net retailer, I certainly suggest the net. But, in fact, I highly reccommend establishing a relationship with a good local model shop. Paul and I bought everything from one particular shop and one particular VERY knowledgable employee who steered us right.

From the beginning, we got exactly what we needed -- nothing else. Bill solved our problems and listened to our questions. In a short time we learned to do exactly what Bill said, and nothing else. The cars and equipment worked well, and Paul got faster. We still maintain a great relationship with Bill to this day, even though he now manages a shop 70 miles away. Without Bill, we probably wouldn't be racing today.

[losidan]

I notice that jim neglected to mention in his response that as part of recouping some of the cost of racing he lends his mrs out to rc mags to show off cars...a good plan mate!