Nitroholic

Never seen that kit before A chain is a good solution as long as you can keep it lubed and adjusted. S

The FG kit to turn the Marder into 4WD is a belt drive unit. It's basically the same gear they put on the new FG Baja 4WD modified as a retrofit. The belt runs in a plastic channel along the chassis to the front diff.

Thought there was something missing from the thread...then I saw the second set of pics. Tyre off, broken plug, stripped gears... It's not a proper Baja session without lots of broken bits and stripped gears

Whatever you choose to get, ther eare a few things you should look closely at first: 1) Spares availability. Can you get parts locally, or via mail order with out problems. Are the things you are most likely to need in stock and easy to get? If you go for minority cars, or ones which are not good sellers, you will find parts harder to come by. As a first nitro, there will be mistakes you make, and things will get broken! 2) Knowledge base. Again, if your car has a problem, are there people you can ask for help? Common models will have more chance of a good answer, as you can bet you are not hte first person to have the issue! 3) Quality. Don't skimp on this! I can't stress this enough. Buy a cheap buggy from a budget manufacturer, and you will not get a bargain, whatever the spec sheet might say. If you are new to nitro you want a buggy that will tune up easily, be tolerant of a bad tune to the extent it will start and run if not to full power, and one that will not drive you crazy with silly problems and bizarre faults. Read the posts on 8800GT's ACME Condor for an example of this. Look for something that will be forgiving of mistakes. From personal experience, my 2 nitro's are worlds apart. The XT2 was a great learner buggy. It ran well enough from day 1 with very limited knowledge of what tuning was. It always started and ran. As I got better at tuning...it got faster... but it always ran. My ST1 was a pig to start when new due to a tight engine, came with factory settings so far off it wouldn't run or it would scream at idle, a throttle servo-arm that fouled hte brake arm and applied the brake on full throttle, and fuel pipes that seemed to have a suicidal urge to throw themselves into the spur gear. If that had been my first buggy, I would have probably given up then and there! It's not a cheap car either. Since I was a bit more clued up by then, I checked most of the things out before, and spotted the worst of the issues. With a bit of basic tuning I got it runnable and broke in the motor. Now I have it tuned nicely, it's a beast ( in a good way) and my favourite nitro by a mile.. Personally...I think the XTM XT2 is a great learner buggy, Hyper 7's get a good right up and are popular .. but expect to spend

Until it loosens up a bit, this will make starting easier. Once the motor has a few more runs under it's belt it should get easier to start. Also, keep an eye on the glowplug. It's worth having a spare around just in case. Glowplugs can fail, especially under the potentially odd running conditions of breaking in and tuning and leave you with a dead or struggling buggy. It's a cheap spare to have around even if you don;t need it now...you will at some point!

I tend to run until I get the early warning lean off, then bring it back to me slowly on a near dead throttle. It's easy enough to tell when this happens and if I tried to drive it hard like that it would run like **** and overheat, so I don't bother. Bring her gently home and park up. I don;t like leaving residue in the tank, so I carry a big plastic syringe with a tube on it. If there is fuel left, I remove it...but I usually end up with an empty tank

I tend to run until I get the early warning lean off, then bring it back to me slowly on a near dead throttle. It's easy enough to tell when this happens and if I tried to drive it hard like that it would run like **** and overheat, so I don't bother. Bring her gently home and park up. I don;t like leaving residue in the tank, so I carry a big plastic syringe with a tube on it. If there is fuel left, I remove it...but I usually end up with an empty tank

Meh. I used to ride to work on an 850 Moto Guzzi LeMans on open pipes. It was so loud it set off car alarms....That caused some concerns when I had to leave for work at 5am. I am now virtually deaf when I want to be. Buggy wise, I have never had anything but positive attention when out and about. Last time I was out an old guy wandered up, and I thought 'oh no..here we go...moan alert' but he was interested in the car and used to have RC planes when he was a kid. He just wanted to have a look under the shell and see how it worked. I think if the cars are being driven with due concern for others using the space, you generally get more interest that trouble. They make quite a spectacle too!

I've been thrashing an XT2 for the last couple of years and it has never missed a beat. Spares are cheap enough and easy to get. Ripmax are the importers of all the XTM stuff, and they retail them through the Hobbystores chain. Mail order is available if there isn't a shop near you. Check all the usual things: Make sure the servo's are OK, and the engine starts and runs OK. The stock XT2 has a .247 motor, and if it's totally shot, then they are around

Don't forget, as well, that you are tunign the engine when it is at it's working temperature. When you start it from cold, it's not unusual for it to need some help. Think of ramping up the throttle trim as putting on the choke... and don't forget to put it back once the motor is running. Also, if it's a new motor it will be relaitively tight still. This will ease up with time

I think, in general terms, this has been an interesting and thought provoking excercise for me. No one has mentioned any other options which I hadn't listed, which is good for me. I don't think there are any other serious contenders for my cash in the price bracket that I haven't considered. So my research and hours drooling over petrol powered loveliness wasn't wasted. As it stands now, I am chasing up a lead on a new MCD Race Runner. It's head of the pack in my favour stakes once I saw how they could be made to look by a simple change of wheels. I don't like the stock ones..and noticed that the 2009 catalogue shows the sport with new wheels too..so maybe MCD agree! With the availability of Baja wheel conversions, there is a huge choice of wheels if I want to change them. I like the snub-nosed brutal look, and love the quality of the engineering inside the shell. Ever since I saw an MCD Rally with it's top off I was impressed. Admittedly..the stock paint is a bit lack-lustre...but I would leave it stock while I learn to drive, then get a clear shell and do a custom job. I'm thinking a WW2 desert aircraft camo scheme with shark mouth, or maybe my dazzle-ships plan. Anyways...that's the leader of the pack. If the deal doesn't work out, or I can't get what I need on that front, the runner up would be an SS kit. I know the hop-ups I need to start with, and would look to go for some good options. If no-one is willing to deal on an SS kit, then there are always the FG machines. Would probably go Beetle rather than Baja, but either way, it would have to be 4WD but I don't know. It's not a bad looking buggy, but it's not doing it for me. It lacks the brutishness of the MCD or the razzamatazz of the HPI Baja. Could go for a Beetle one though.

Noooo..I am not cracking open the Jack Daniels to strip the shell no matter what! I will give the nitro a try though...I have some old and unwanted 16% ModelTechnics fuel that I wouldn't sully a real engine with, so I can try it on that.

PM sent

Pretty sure it is lexan then. Where the side of the chassis rubs the paint has come off a bit, and it is clear underneath. I'll try a bit of stripping in an area that doesn't show ( under a sticker ) and see how it goes. As long as the fluid won't hurt the lexan! Had visions of dunking it in Nitromors and watching the shell shrivel up like a slug in a salt-mine!

In simple terms, I am planning a respray job of a RTR buggy, and wondered if it was possible to remove the paint so I could respray..or if the only way to do this would be to buy a new shell. I would rather not do that ... and won't bother if there isn't a reliable way of stripping. Also...how do you tell what the shell is made out of? I know different paint is needed for different shell materials..so again..knowing the material is rather important!

Looks very neat and tidy Underneath it looks like it shares a lot with the Marder and other largescale FG buggies, so spares shouldn't be a problem. It is in very clean condition too inside and out. That's a good buy. Looks good in those colours too

MMR are giving away tyres, a light kit a spare fuel tank and a 1900Mah hump pack. The battery pack is a bit small, but makes a good spare. It is a choice between getting it form there or from Modelsport. Both offer good deals. I also want to be able to get as much as possible from one supplier to save on postage and hassle. Nothing worse than putting it all together and waiting 2 weeks for a throttle servo to turn up from some dodgy E-Bay site, or have it trapped in a Royal Mail strike....

I thought I had it all figured out, but then I started to wonder, and then some more! What is the BEST for general running around, light bashing and grassy field blasting? I am not looking to bling up a buggy, but want something that will give me reliable dependable fun ( allowing for rotten driving, and the occasional mishap ) So far, I have considered the following: Baja SS. With the basic kit plus a Savox SC0251 and a decent hump-pack, there is just enough in the budget for an alloy clutch cover and outerwear filter cover. And do the mesh-mod. I will be adding in my spare RX to use my DX3.0. I know there will be other things I will spend money on, but that gets me started. Then..when Santa comes knocking, I hope he brings me a nice set of improved shock seals or maybe a turtle racing clutch bell. Then the bottomless pit really opens! Oh..yes..and I will have to buy 3 cans of paint and some masking fluid. It's the niggest of hte big-boys and the one that most parts are available for...but there does seem to be a lot of ...er...broken ones! So many threads about people breaking them. Are they weak...or is it just because they are the most common? In the 'left field' there lurks the FG crowd. The 2WD FG is the cheapest option. The newer Baja can be had RTR for around

So I could charge my Nitro buggy's smaller hump-pack on it's lowest 1amp setting, and the bigger one at a higher ampage in a more reasonable time. Sounds like

Might have to upgrade my battery charger when I get one of these ..... my current servo pack charger pushes out a meagre 185Mah on normal, or 250Mah on the optional 'fast' charge. So..let me see now ...at 185Mah it would charge a 4300Mah battery in just under 24hrs. If I hit the higher voltage option, I could manage it in a mere 17hrs. Might be an idea to get something better for when I go Baja.

If you want to drive in the wet a lot, then a waterproof filter is a good idea. Otherwise, it does reduce the airflow and with it, the power the engine produces. I prefer a 2-stage filter on my buggies, as it's easier to clean and maintain.... but really, the stock foam airfilter, as long as it is in good condition and maintained as the manual says, should do the job well enough. What is your main reason for swapping the filter? Looks, performance or engine life?

The engine has a kill-button on it ...but that's only useful if the buggy is stopped. If something goes wrong then you can kill the engine remotely with a kill-switch. Say, for example, your throttle servo failed or your carb jammed open. A failsafe will only cut in if the signal goes....so you hit the button for Ch3 and the engine stops. edit...oh yea...and Modelsport do a 'combo' package on the SS for £899 which gets you all the basics. Some of the options in the bundle are a bit marginal, and would probably want upgrading later on, but if you are tied to a fixed budget of £950 then you can DEFINITELY do it. I have costed my desired Baja package at around £920 but that does not include TX/RX. It does include an upgraded clutch which is not essential though. Mind you..when I was a kid I can't imagine by folks ever affording that sort of cash for a gift!

I got 'Baja disease' already and I don't even have the car yet The symptoms are easy to spot..... lust for shiny things, desire to over-engineer, desperate need to burn large wads of cash ... damn..I thought I'd last longer than this before I succumbed But the TR clutch kit looks so shiny....and the children don't have to eat every day...do they?

hmm...I can see the sense in that! It's not a lot more and if I shop carefully, I think I can make a few savings and 'loyalty' purchases that will trim the budget too. Thanks for the tip.

A full TR setup would cost around