| Author | Message | ||
     Zac4mac |
Pretty sure I still have 1 or 2 different pinion gears to change speed/torque. Most of my “extra” parts are missing, I think I gave my original RC10 to a friend a few years ago. I’m sure the crystal I need was in the box with motors, esc and other parts Found out today my AM crystal stuff is obsolete, found a pair of 75Mhz crystals at Amazon, they’ll be here next week. IIRC the motor does 50krpm+ with a 7.2v battery, getting antsy waiting to see it running again. Z | ||
| Rick_a |
Everything these days is on 2.4GHz which simply requires binding to the corresponding receiver. It also doesn't require the long antennas, is less prone to interference, usually has a better range, and there's no worries about being on someone else's channel. After clearing out a track and testing out my kid's car, I'm jonesing for mine. | ||
| Mad_max |
Just doesn’t seem possible. 53HP? It’s smaller than a starter motor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE2Kdx2c8go https://www.mgm-controllers.com/en/the-most-powerf ul-esc-motor-combo-for-rc-cars | ||
| Rick_a |
Seven years ago a 202 MPH record was set with an electric RC car. Things really haven't progressed much since then other than the go fast electronics, batteries, and cars being more accessible. That ESC/motor combo appears to be pretty well known and hyped over the interwebs. | ||
| Aesquire |
Just got mail my new kite shipped. A few weeks ago I got a nice Email from the lady who makes them to thank me for my money, and tell me the order would be delayed since there were 3 Covid cases and her Province was locked down. Hoped to be able to leave home to work soon. Happy to hear she's not starving, ( I helped! ) or was shot. Will post pictures when arrives. 7 meter square high aspect ratio. I was reminded my old glider had the same size wing as a P-40. I helped the Dr. Paul MacCready crew install the Gossamer Condor at the Smithsonian Air & Spa museum. Hilarious. Arrived at dawn on a Sunday, and there's a monster crane just outside suitable for lifting tons. The museum staff looks at the young crew with a van, a motorcycle, ( me ) and an few Hot rods. Wants to know where the airplane is? In the van. Oh. How heavy is it? 70 pounds. (Looks at crane) oh. How big is it? About 100 feet. Oh. That's not going to fit. Don't worry, we can assemble it inside. It'll go through that regular double door. ( hurried conference to relocate plane position,) "going to hang it up, right? It's kinda fragile." So they found a space between the Apollo 11 capsule and an ICBM & a Supermarine Racer. One of the slowest craft ever flown between the fastest. We ended up lifting it with ropes by hand and threading it around incredibly valuable artifacts, At one point I was on the upper concourse, leaning out with one hand on the leading edge of the biggest wing in the Museum to keep it from hitting either the Wright Flyer or an X-15... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacCready_Gossamer _Condor | ||
| Rick_a |
Here's our two biggest wrecks so far. The kid landed hard by stalling out just above the ground and I hit a thin branch at full speed. Mine certainly looked more dramatic.  20220408_193601 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr They both still fly like new and look good...from a distance  Glue and tape fixes them up pretty good. | ||
| Aesquire |
Updates on my hobbies...  The wing I wanted for the me carrying pt.103 craft ( not an airplane per FAA regulations, an "Ultralight" ) is currently unavailable, ( confirmed this last week ) as the city & nation the factory was in was attacked by Russia. Prayers for everyone involved. ( for some, not kind ) So that project is on hold. There is a bigger, slower, more expensive alternative, which is a budget buster, but might be a better overall choice. Nifty models! The old school tiny pieces of balsa glued into complex ribs and covered in doped paper models I'm used to turn into emotional confetti in impacts like that. I wish I had the talent for RC. It's cheaper than my obsessions. | ||
| Rick_a |
It's easier and cheaper than ever these days. Even the cars are coming with stability control these days  I'd rather risk a $35-$80 plane than my life | ||
| 86129squids |
Hey! We watched tonite's "60 Minutes"... their last segment was on eVTOL vehicles. Frickin fantastic stuff. I know full well that most here only pay attention to Fox "news" and such... but, the 60 minutes crew over the decades has done consistently great work. As it refers to the thread, and to human transportation in general, not to mention futurism, do take a look. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/evtol-flying-vehicles -air-taxi-60-minutes-2022-04-17/ | ||
| Rick_a |
Yeah. That's pricey and impractical. I'd rather have a home built autogyro death machine and the like. The other day I did a quintuple loop with the mini T-28. The kid did his first intermediate flight with his mini F4U. It's crazy how quick that kid picks it up. He was doing loops and assisted aileron rolls. I have to figure out a way to build a decent ramp for our oval race course. I'm dying to get my RC car. It's made it through customs and has been in shipping limbo for weeks. | ||
| 86129squids |
Pricey and impractical? The companies investing might indicate otherwise... Boeing and Airbus were only the well-known ones. They interviewed one guy who is working on an autonomous design... kinda creeps me out, but he had a good counterargument to those not keen on a "no pilot" flyer. He said that the ultimate goal is more like an air taxi. We shall see. In the meantime... I gotta be careful visiting THIS thread! I have Pearson Springs park and soccer fields very close to home... keep posting the fun! | ||
| Rick_a |
The flying car of the future has been around the corner for as long as I've been around. I'd love to be proven wrong. I mean, we still can't stop the self driving cars of the future past from smashing into things.  Anyway, I'm happy with my dumb drone and helicopter and fancy foam plane with nanny modes. The former make me feel in control and the latter makes me feel like I know what I'm doing. Aren't planes supposed to be the easy ones to fly? While waiting I found some fancy all terrain tires for my incoming car. This is a tough scale to shop for (1/12). This is them on a 1/14th.  People seem to really like them. I'm trying to avoid buying foamies for street use.  Everyone seems out to get these to go 100mph. The brushless version will go 40 out of the box and ~55 with a 3S battery. Going 75+ seems to get pricey and pretty well makes the car useless for anything but speed runs. | ||
| Aesquire |
Ukrainian video, "unboxing drone". You might recognize some parts. https://9gag.com/gag/aDDV6GO Funny drone moments. https://9gag.com/gag/a11219R https://9gag.com/gag/apgxngb Not funny drone moments. WARNING! War footage. https://9gag.com/gag/ang27ZV https://9gag.com/gag/a812RK6 Makes you think, eh? | ||
| Aesquire |
I do admire the skills of RC guys. A whole different skill set than the POV drones. The homebuilt airplane guys are playing with man carrying multicopters. The 2 big problems are... the FAA is still working on regulations for the things, and the focus is on commercial flight, robot air taxis, etc. & really doesn't like the individual stuff, worried about fracking fools running into an airliner. ( Don't blame them. I was a tiny part of the pt103 "craft" regulation process that covers hang gliders, paragliders & "Ultralights". One jerk can ruin it for everyone. ) The other problem is a multicopter can't autorotate, ( controlled descent ) like a conventional helicopter. Lose power, you plummet. ( from the Latin word for lead ) There are rocket & ballistic deployed parachutes developed for hang gliding originally, but they require altitude to work. So there's an altitude zone between just high enough to risk crashing and a chute can deploy, that's fatally high and too low for the big red handle to save you. Oh, and the FAA is dead set against civilian ejection seats. They really don't want planes crashing into schools, and the human heroics required are part of pilot culture in the U.S. History is full of pilots that crashed and kept the plane from hitting civilians. The problems of range are a moving target. Flight without wings, is highly energy intensive. Otoh, you can carry a 185cc paramotor & wing in a hatchback, ( some assembly required ) and fly a surprising distance cross country. (Message edited by Aesquire on April 23, 2022) | ||
| Rick_a |
I decided to get a couple sets of hardened steel replacement CVD's for the car. Apparently the stock front shafts are fairly soft and the rear dog bones run rough and tend to get lost. Problems solved? I also ordered a set of anti roll bars, because racing. It seems to be a worthwhile upgrade. A coworker got tired of trying to get his nitro Traxxas to run, so he got a 1/8 scale brushless truggy. It looks pretty cereal.  The included transmitter looks pretty trashy and toy grade, though. | ||
| Aesquire |
New kite arrived. Huge. I don't have the room inside to stretch it out, and today was too windy and it snowed. Blue-ish and Orange-ish colors did not show well on website, luckily they are nicer, imho. ( I don't have a great color vocabulary, sorry. Nor do I claim taste as a virtue ) Should be obvious in the air. Looking forward to trying it, have a snow kite harness on order so it can be controlled safely without tying it to a car hitch. ( and for sled/ski use next winter ) Will post pics if I remember to take any. | ||
| Rick_a |
I smashed my T-28 into a barbed wire fence yesterday. It cut into the wing cord...but a little glue and tape fixed it up well enough. I was flying in windy conditions and ran out of room/lost too much energy. It was slowed down but had a lot of lift going against the wind...sent like a rocket, but with very little lift under it going with the wind. It can be a little challenging. I also mechanically trimmed the ailerons so that on the non gyro stabilized flight mode it hopefully won't do a slow roll on its own. The digital trims in the control don't hold. | ||
| Rick_a |
After 3 tries I finally got the wheel bearings for one of the Christmas gift cars. This came in today.  20220507_183037 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr It's pretty fast. The diffs need grease. The left front wheel was set with considerable toe out. The right rear shock is over filled. It's fast and smooth in a straight line over smooth surfaces. It's pretty sketchy over rough terrain. I hooked it in a turn and it barrel rolled spectacularly. I need to straighten the aforementioned items out before I run it again. I like it. The upgrade wheels/tires should arrive in a few weeks. | ||
| Patches |
Here is a FliteTest built RC B17 pulling a Jeep. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDRJCyCKWfQ FliteTest youtube link is. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9zTuyWffK9ckEz12 16noAw - If you want RC Car and Truck, Crawler content Wesmade Builds is good choice. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCn6MLHzn6xIIDT9fd Zi_wJg - Another builder I like is Ramy RC. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaLqj-d_p8iuUfda5 398igA - If you're into Scratch build Outerzone 2011-2022 has over 2,500 Free Downloadable Model Airplane Plans. https://outerzone.co.uk/search/results.asp?keyword =typeID:1463 | ||
| Rick_a |
I like my $35-$80 foamies that fly impressively out of the box with a little bit of trimming and are fixed with some glue and tape. My car got anti sway bars, which helps some. It'll still hook sideways at times and go flying. I've been getting it up on two wheels alot...both wheelies and sideways. It's fun, I guess. One of the shocks has some stiction yet and is noisy so I'll probably see if I can get that replaced. One guy mixed and matched parts between the two versions to go 70+mph. | ||
| Willmrx |
Got my son a RC car during the covid lock down, and I ended up enjoying the hobby more then he did. The mini rock crawlers are surprisingly fun.  | ||
| Rick_a |
My kid had this It was a lot of fun indoors on carpet. It lasted until his older brother threw the transmitter on the ground and it would twitch and hesitate randomly after that. The girlfriend's older child decided that he wanted an RC after watching me drive mine around. He actually picked the exact same one I had already purchased for him. Since he was insistent on buying it himself, I let him have it as an early birthday present. Of course, the younger child immediately began sulking so he got his as well.  20220515_165823 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr The little one is fast, but sketchy...as expected. It's bouncy and darty on rough terrain, but goes through short grass like a champ. Surprisingly, it makes it through long grass as well. The bigger car was surprisingly good. I don't like the general construction of the thing, but it is smooth, relatively fast, good handing, and torquey enough to do some serious wheelies when the surface allows for enough traction. I finally got my own car to handle acceptably well. It still has a little too much spring in the front, and it's a little too soft in the rear. I did some preload adjustment (backed all the way off up front, maxed out in the rear), changed shock mount positions (more direct up front, more progressive in the rear) and went with a lighter anti sway bar up front. I also ended up with a bent axle after hooking a wheel in the fence. I straightened it out as best as I could...but replacements are coming. | ||
| Rick_a |
The older kid almost fried his car on day two. Something got the drivetrain stuck and he kept jamming on the throttle. That resulted in the brushes welding to the commutator. Luckily the ESC didn't fry. I had the pull the motor out to free it up. The top brace holds the motor and is the top half of the rear differential housing. So many screws...One axle is starting to get a little twist in it. It's $35 to get steel replacements. The younger one...I got him a small, light, durable car anticipating him running into things at high speed. That has proven to be true. My car has a front suspension arm that's looking pretty wonky. It's only about ten dollars for four of them...but it's a month to get anything. I also found heavier rear springs from another model and have some heavier shock oil coming. I also opened a case to have the one troublesome shock replaced. The new axles came in, but they're too tight in the bearings...so some manual turning is in order.  Overall, pretty typical. I should have my wheels in a couple weeks. | ||
| Rick_a |
This Associated 1/10th scale RC is supposed to be the one to get these days for "bashing." It has a reputation from real world users for durability.  He manages to break it here...but he breaks everything A demonstration of why allow suspension arms are generally not the best idea. | ||
| Aesquire |
https://ombreolivier.liberty.me/tsar-wars-attack-o f-the-drones/ A buddy just bought a $69 rear view camera and tail light, for his bicycle. Bluetooth, it talks to a cell phone on a handlebar mount. A cell phone mounted to a RC truck offers the possibility of driving out of sight of the operator. More range and in some ways, simpler operation to use cell phones to control the RC truck instead of traditional RC controllers. I've seen 3D printed clip on joysticks for cell phones. I've got a micro helicopter that has a controller that clips to & plugs into a cell phone, using the touchscreen as the control interface. The clipped on controller uses short range radio ( wifi/Bluetooth/RC... Small difference? ) to talk to the toy level helicopter. And there's plenty of videos on using cell phones as Bluetooth transmitter for RC cars using Ardino or Pi boards. What's state of the art for using cell system/cell phones to control RC cars? The interface box on my toy ( cell phone screen commands to RC signals ) is about the size of a big pack of gum. One that plugs into a cell phone on the car to translate phone software to car motor instruction ( basically smart, tiny relays ) doesn't have to be that big, no radio transmitter. I haven't paid attention to state of the art here. Is there a COTS kit to control your toy car by cell phone? I'm not talking Bluetooth short range, I mean I dial up my toy car in London & drive it. Imagine? a "remote" RC car race in, say, Detroit, where either race track provided "one class" cars, or yours you ship there, are run on wild courses. There's lots of dead malls/factories/big box stores where imaginative courses could be made & shown as spectator ( twitch ) sports. Or, let's say I wanted to deliver a bottle of beer to you in GA. Say I'm 30 miles away instead of over a thousand. I load a "long range" multicopter drone with my "cell car" and drop it off in a field near your home, & drive it up to your back yard to deliver a tasty ale as you play with your kids. I'll skip the Bad Things that makes possible. | ||
| Rick_a |
That's too fancy. Line of sight works best with the cars because when they flip over someone's gotta be there to right it. My wheels/tires are MIA. My car had a bad landing and the wing fasteners got ripped right out of their respective mounts. Some of the kid's cars were missing body clips so $9 later at the hardware store and everything is fixed. Granted, $9 could literally buy every fastener on my car.  | ||
| Rick_a |
My car has a broken shock. Our ramp warped in the humidity and hitting the lip wrong tacoed a shock. A whole replacement set was $25. My wing is beat to hell so a hard plastic version is on the way for $12 shipped. My wheels finally made it, though the day after the car became undriveable. The kid's car started sounding terrible and looked down on power. A thrust bearing on the differential was turned to dust. The entire gearbox is only $10 but is of a new style of far less quality and durability. I found an equivalent bearing for $6 shipped. I used the girlfriend's kid's little 1/18th car for a few minutes just up and down the drive and it threw an axle. Thankfully I have an entire metal replacement set. It could really use some oil filled shocks. They're $32 and known to be rather fragile. These cars are a constant headache and source of great entertainment. My kid watched Top Gun for the first time then Top Gun Maverick. He's talking about dogfighting the 4ch warbirds. I like it. We started flying the planes together for the first time the other day. He likes to fly high in large elliptical patterns and I like to fly lower along a narrow corridor. It works out pretty well. We flew all of the RC planes and the helicopter. Seven aircraft altogether. It was a good time. Oh yeah...I also put my car on the black top for the first time and it really cooks! Almost impossible to control hard on the throttle. The new wheels should help, but this is mostly going to tough it out offroad. | ||
| Rick_a |
Our cars.  20220607_101029 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr His steering servo is pretty sluggish so a new one is on the way. I'm just waiting for my wing. On our racetrack, at least in wet conditions...the tires have allowed me to best him for once. The thing is a monster on gravel. | ||
| Rick_a |
The boy had a great idea. He's going to get a fancier version of my car such as this: He though it would be a good idea if I got a car like his 2WD buggy so we could race head to head. Since I don't really feel like buying that car and upgrading it, it would make sense to get a Traxxas 2WD that has the same motor and speed controller that he's running. This is looking good to me. It's been around since 1994, so it's right up my alley.  After about $100 in chassis upgrades it should make a decent car  His brushed 1/10th 2WD buggy can narrowly beat my 1/12 scale brushless 4WD as it is a lot more tractable and stable. I'm hoping this could finally turn the tables  | ||
| Rick_a |
My car has a new wing and ate the rear differential. It started making noise, which usually means it's already too late. The original diff is cast zinc with a plastic housing. The new one is steel gears in a metal housing. The rear one takes enough extra load to grenade itself, it seems. Due to a deal I could not pass up, a used/refurbished Traxxas Rustler is coming my way.  Part of the thrill is seeing what kind of condition it will be in  |
