FTX Vantage/Carnage owners Thread

[James.S]

23 hours ago, Jack Reacher said:

oops, but a pretty cheap part and not hard to replace

 

Yep, fortunately all the parts for this car really are quite cheap. Obviously it's not the strongest thing in the world, but I don't mind spending a few pounds here & there when breakages inevitably happen.

 

16 hours ago, Fat Freddy said:

That’s what I love about these cars. My last big crash cost £2.85 to fix. The postage cost more than the parts.

 

Haha, indeed. I felt kinda bad seeing that I had to pay £4.50 postage for a £3.32 part... so ofcourse the best option was to order another 4 spare bits to make it worthwhile 😉

Edited November 14, 2020 by James RC

[Lone-wolf]

8 minutes ago, James RC said:

 

Yep, fortunately all the parts for this car really are quite cheap. Obviously it's not the strongest thing in the world, but I don't mind spending a few pounds here & there when breakages inevitably happen.

 

 

Haha, indeed. I felt kinda bad seeing that I had to pay £4.50 postage for a £3.32 part... so ofcourse the best option was to order another 4 spare bits to make it worthwhile 😉

If its any consolation yesterday i rolled the black F100 carnage end over and scratched the new shell a fair bit, oh well the newness has gone

[Stormbringer]

The 1st roll over is the worst 1

[MrPeaski]

On 13/11/2020 at 07:58, James RC said:

 

I'm not sure if its possible to adjust the braking on these, but it's really difficult to modulate. Maybe it's just the transmitter that it comes with but unless you make 0.5mm adjustments on the lever they are either on or off.

 

From the factory the brakes are set at 50%, if you get the ESC programming card ( around £10 https://www.modelsport.co.uk/search/rc-car-products/385693 ) you can adjust the brakes and a few other things.

Have a look at page 6 (I think!) of the manual for the stock settings and what you can adjust.

[James.S]

1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

The 1st roll over is the worst 1

 

Unfortunately that was more like the 10th roll over 🤦‍♂️

 

2 minutes ago, MrPeaski said:

 

From the factory the brakes are set at 50%, if you get the ESC programming card ( around £10 https://www.modelsport.co.uk/search/rc-car-products/385693 ) you can adjust the brakes and a few other things.

Have a look at page 6 (I think!) of the manual for the stock settings and what you can adjust.

 

Thank you very much for the advice & the link. I'm gonna order one of those 👍

[Lone-wolf]

Im toying with replacing the brushless already, i fitted the 540 size 4350kv motor but i could do with a bit more  run time from the 5200 2s lipo`s cant help thinking a 3650 3100kv would be a better choice, maybe go back to the 17T pinion as well

[Fat Freddy]

1 hour ago, Jack Reacher said:

Im toying with replacing the brushless already, i fitted the 540 size 4350kv motor but i could do with a bit more  run time from the 5200 2s lipo`s cant help thinking a 3650 3100kv would be a better choice, maybe go back to the 17T pinion as well

I have a 4000kv on 16 teeth and am thinking along similar lines. A little more torque would be good. Wishing I’d gone for something nearer 3500 but hey ho,budget won’t run to it and what The hell, I’m still grinning like an idiot after every bash. 🤪

[Rixi]

Hi guys,

I jumped into the hobby a few month ago with a Quanum Vandal -- a clone of the FTX Vantage as most of you probably know -- as my first car. I found it fascinating to research about the clone models out there. And during the last weeks I've put together my 'grand collection' of parts, shops and knowhow for the FTX Vantage, Quanum Vandal, VRX Spirit, df models SpeedRacer, Integy i10B and others there might be out there. It's all in one Google Sheets ("Excel") document:

 

Here is the link to it:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1KqDGJUVtW8GiJOme7ptlKQXKAbrv6UdB4-F_WQeOfGo/
Shops are on the second page, specs & knowhow on the third. I recommend to use Chrome on a Desktop-PC to browse the document, since I found others browsers sometimes struggle to display it perfectly.

 

I gave my best to make it a beneficial compendium and hope it's gonna be helpful for some of you. However, there is of course still potential for improvements. Like adding the Truggy versions of this car/platform (I focused on the Buggys since I only own a Quanum Vandal) or more information to the "Specs and KnowHow" section. Also, a link collection of relevant webpages and forum posts would be great. Maybe you have more ideas.
But for now, I will lean back a bit, since I've already spent way more hours on it than I planned. If anyone of you feels like he/she is called to contribute to this document, feel free contact me. I'm open to add your suggested contents or grand write access to the file.

 

Regards,
Rixi

[lennylogknob]

That is absolutely excellent. Thanks.

[adam1979]

I know it has probably already been discussed on here somewhere but I can't be bothered to look throgh 239 pages!!!  I want to upgrade my boys Carnage from brushed to brushless.  Do I choose the standard 2950kv motor or the 3450kv motor?  What is the difference between the two of them?  They are the same price with the 45amp ESC.  Also, do I need to upgrade or change anything else at the same time?  Pinion or spur gear??  It will be running on 2s Lipo if that makes any difference.

 

Thanks

Edited November 16, 2020 by adam1979

[James.S]

Hi Adam. The 2950kv motor is going to have a bit more torque than the 3450kv, which in turn will have a bit more top end. But I honestly don't think the difference is going to be that much between the two. Basically just ask your son if he wants quicker acceleration or higher top speed & then choose accordingly.

If you're planning to just run the car on a 2s lipo then I think the standard pinion & spur should be fine 👍

 

[adam1979]

21 minutes ago, James RC said:

Hi Adam. The 2950kv motor is going to have a bit more torque than the 3450kv, which in turn will have a bit more top end. But I honestly don't think the difference is going to be that much between the two. Basically just ask your son if he wants quicker acceleration or higher top speed & then choose accordingly.

If you're planning to just run the car on a 2s lipo then I think the standard pinion & spur should be fine 👍

 

Excellent, thanks bud. 

[James.S]

17 minutes ago, adam1979 said:

Excellent, thanks bud. 

 

You're welcome mate, and just for reference, I have an FTX Carnage brushless and the standard 2950kv motor has loads of power down low. It wheelies on 2s on dry tarmac/grass. But still reaches a top speed of around 30mph, which i'm sure will be enough for your boy. I run mine on a 4500mah 45c 3s lipo now and the power is a bit mad now to be honest for such a lightweight RC. If you give it any more than 1/3rd throttle from a stand still it just wants to spin in circles 😋 I think the top speed with the extra cell may be closer to 50mph now, and i imagine it would be quite a bit faster if I switched to the higher kv motor. So yeah, with all that being said, I reckon the 2950 is going to be your best option 

[James.S]

A few bits for the Carnage arrived today 

 

 

A much needed new front bumper 

 

Bought a wheelie bar in pursuit of not flipping onto the roof every few minutes and scraping the crap out of the shell. I'm hoping that this will just fit straight on, or is there another component that I need to get?

 

New bodyshell (with a nicer colourway in my personal opinion) for when the original one inevitably snaps.

 

Steel 4 way wrench, the one I've been using is a WL toys special that came with the 144001. Made out of Chinese cheese metal.

 

15t pinion incase I want to change the gearing at some point. It runs well for the most part with the standard 17 but I think its putting a bit of strain on the motor, it got pretty warm today.

 

[Nickarla]

On 16/11/2020 at 18:38, James RC said:

 

You're welcome mate, and just for reference, I have an FTX Carnage brushless and the standard 2950kv motor has loads of power down low. It wheelies on 2s on dry tarmac/grass. But still reaches a top speed of around 30mph, which i'm sure will be enough for your boy. I run mine on a 4500mah 45c 3s lipo now and the power is a bit mad now to be honest for such a lightweight RC. If you give it any more than 1/3rd throttle from a stand still it just wants to spin in circles 😋 I think the top speed with the extra cell may be closer to 50mph now, and i imagine it would be quite a bit faster if I switched to the higher kv motor. So yeah, with all that being said, I reckon the 2950 is going to be your best option 

The pinion size also has a significant influence on top speed. I had the HobbyWing max10 which is 3300kv. It was very good and similar to yours went to 30mph on Carnage wheels, 33mph on Bugsta wheels and if I remember correctly was on a 15t pinion.

[James.S]

2 hours ago, Nickarla said:

The pinion size also has a significant influence on top speed. I had the HobbyWing max10 which is 3300kv. It was very good and similar to yours went to 30mph on Carnage wheels, 33mph on Bugsta wheels and if I remember correctly was on a 15t pinion.

 

Yes very true. I may be switching my pinion out for a 15t aswell pretty soon as I don't really need all that top speed (on 3s). Acceleration is going to be even more crazy on that gearing though so I think a future plan for me is changing out the motor, maybe even to a 4000kv. Hoping that will really smooth out the low down power, but ofcourse it means that top speed will see a big increase again & then I may have to drop down another couple teeth on the pinion. 

[Darren Frosty]

1 hour ago, James RC said:

 

Yes very true. I may be switching my pinion out for a 15t aswell pretty soon as I don't really need all that top speed (on 3s). Acceleration is going to be even more crazy on that gearing though so I think a future plan for me is changing out the motor, maybe even to a 4000kv. Hoping that will really smooth out the low down power, but ofcourse it means that top speed will see a big increase again & then I may have to drop down another couple teeth on the pinion. 

 

Hello, I haven't got one of these cars but I do have experience of 4000kv motors and 3S lipos. What we found was that if you want to fit bigger wheels than the 80mm ish ones that come on buggies then the useable range of speed you're geared for is way too high and you'd need a pinion smaller than will fit to get it back to sensible. This was on Maverick Strada buggies which aren't disimilar to the ftx ones. I bought the 4000kv but I wish I'd got the 3300 exrun instead.

Edited November 18, 2020 by Darren Frosty

[Iain .R]

Hi every one   

 

This is my 1st post and I'm new to the RC hobby.  

I bought a 2an hand ftx carnage .few weeks a go and it's fast and fun . Mind you the last RC car I had was over 35 years ago  I had a wild willy . But gave up due to 10 mins runtime 24 hrs charge . 

 

So when i decided to dive back into RC the joy I found that now you can have batterys that run for 30 mins and 3 hrs charge and they dont a remortgage to buy . 

 

So I thought I would just start off with a 2an hand one  so few weeks down the road the 2 batters I had with the car 

1800 voltz blue sticker NiMH 

2400 plaszma orange sticker  both gave me about 15 mins run time each. 

Now they last 2 to 4 mins . So I decided to buy bigger 

2 x 5000Mah NiMH SC battery off Ebay. 

I asked the seller if they would work on my ftx carnage  he said yes about 18 to 25 mins run time . 

1st one 30 secs.  

2an 3 to 5 mins MAX . 

 

So I looked in the troubleshooting section and poor run time damaged this and that  or worn 

Nothing everything  fine . 

 

So the car looks fine the batteries are new  why is my car NOT  lasting  the fun . Any help will be fantastic  

 

Plz I know really nothing of RC so if you can explain it say to a stupid person that be me . Thanks.. iain .R

 

 

[Tintin]

There are people way, way more knowledgable than me that I am sure will give you some more detailed advice, on how to fault find etc.

 

Few obvious things that spring to mind:-

• The NiMh batteries have a bit of a memory, so you need to run them flat before charging again. If you don't then they won't get a full charge.  Used to do this on my son's car by just driving it until it would go no more, switching it off and on again doing the same.  If you store them for a while they sometimes need a couple of cycles to get the full potential back again.
• You don't say what charger you are using. Some chargers will check the health of the battery and tell you how much is going in.
• Running the car in long grass will drain the batteries much quicker (but not as quickly as you are saying) due to the increased resistance.

 

I also would buy batteries from an online shop (like Modelsport), so you know what you are getting, and if there is a problem you can send them back.

Welcome to the forum Iain

Edited November 26, 2020 by Tintin

[Strugglecuddle7]

charge/run them for a few more times, should get a bit longer run time each time

[Iain .R]

Hi thanks for the welcome . 

The 2 old batteies that cam with the car are getting less the more I use it (which I been 3 times so far due to bad weather )  the car wont let me run it flat as it cuts out if I.lift it off the floor it run .

 

The new batteries use the charger that come with them . They have a light on the plug and when I used them to day as I said one lasted 30 secs   I charged it and the charge  light went out in 10 mins   the other one I got 3 mins out of it light went out 20 mins in to charge.  

 

So I left them for 2 hours still plugged in to see if the light real is a chage light or just nothing.  

I used it on a flat car park .I didnt get to go off road. LoL

[Stormbringer]

does the car roll reasonably freely ?

could be something binding in drive train 

[James.S]

37 minutes ago, Iain .R said:

I charged it and the charge  light went out in 10 mins   the other one I got 3 mins out of it light went out 20 mins in to charge.  

 

This could mean that there's just a dodgy connection somewhere. Could be the charge lead, the battery connector, or the wires on the nimh battery.

And if it's none of those then those batteries are most likely dead. Nimh type batts have a tendency to die if left for a long period of time, I.E. A year or more. 

Do either of them happen to be swollen at all? 

 

Edit: Also it may be a good idea to get yourself a multimeter/volt meter and test your batteries. They should read about 1.5v when fully charged. If they are a bit under, say 1-1.25v, try charging for an hour then test again. If they read significantly under that and you've charged/used them a few times then your best bet is going to be to buy some new ones. Get yourself some lipos though. I have an FTX Carnage as well and they are much better when you run a 2s lipo for brushed or 2s - 3s for brushless. Mine is brushless, not sure about yours? If you're not sure then post a photo here with the bodyshell off. 

Edited November 24, 2020 by James RC

[Nickarla]

For context I used a 6000mah Zippy 2s LiPo from Hobbyking on my Brushless Carnage. I saw 1hour run times drop to 50 minutes a year later.

I would not wast money on nimh. Get some decent lipos from Hobbyking, Zippy or Turnigy (Modelsport are far too overpriced for lipos), and a decent LiPo charger from Modelsport.

 

Basically this:

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/zippy-6000mah-2s2p-35c-hardcase-pack.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_gb_shopping&countrycode=GB&gclid=CjwKCAiA-_L9BRBQEiwA-bm5fg-4_8BDhzL8jigzBFwJvzlcrQJJdU3xXkiWlasU9_XJLg6mc7wOURoCFaoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

And this 

 

https://www.modelsport.co.uk/index.php?product_id=425241&gclid=CjwKCAiA-_L9BRBQEiwA-bm5fpvHKkuwpW6f7uuHES5HGU7NLS7FNKwJii-vtackKFLXk2sgWKUrJxoC5xMQAvD_BwE

 

You will need to buy some connectors and learn to solder. Its not hard and the rewards are definitely worth it.

 

Something like these 

 

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/genuine-xt60-nylon-connectors-male-female-5-pairs.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_gb_shopping&countrycode=GB&gclid=CjwKCAiA-_L9BRBQEiwA-bm5flX99DBJ6INnNO-wIcFZJRou6CUDPWdg_Ezx1h3nIJRt9z4FSRqLyRoC-c8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

if you still get low drive times then the issue is with the car.

 

[Iain .R]

6 hours ago, Stormbringer said:

does the car roll reasonably freely ?

could be something binding in drive train 

Hi it runs freely . I did have one of the small black guides that sit along the drive shaft turn and it wa touching the drive shaft  I just used long nose  plyers and turned it straight and tightened the screw holding it .