m4inbrain

Costs to complete a roller, that's pretty simple, and people here went way too far down the rabbit hole. There's not many Arrma rollers - lets go with the Kraton EXB, since i know how much i've spent. ESC: Toro185, £99 at Kingslynn (HW rebrand). Motor: Surpass Hobby Rocket 4282 2150kv, £50. Servo: 9imod DS25MG, 0.1s 25kg, £18. Comes with horn too. Radio/Receiver: GT3B, £39 at rcmodelz. Comes with receiver. That's what you need to get the roller to a functional state. After that you can look at battery, charger and other bits and bobs as required - but this is a decent "entry level" setup that'll be fun to bash, and actually quite powerful (more so than a stock Kraton). I'm the first one to admit that spending big = better, but the question wasn't "how to spend too much money", but to get a roller going on a budget. Bringing up nonsense like tyre glue, i mean.. I've been in the hobby for around 10 years now, i have never bought tyre glue. A roller quite obviously is a roller and doesn't require glue, otherwise it'd be a slider. It has wheels. Glued wheels. Same with spur gear, what kind of rollers are you buying that doesn't come with "gears", especially Arrmas? Pinion, sure. £8-£10, that's it. I also disagree with the notion that RTRs are cheaper than rollers, the only way that works is if you blatantly ignore the value added through parts on most rollers. Like the Kraton EXB for example, while it is around £100 steeper to build the EXB over the Kraton RTR, the EXB comes with £300+ worth of parts already. The chassis plate alone (7075, must have for a Kraton) is £180. On top of having a better motor, similar ESC, better servo and better radio. Roller £425 (can be had for half that used), ESC £99, Motor £50, Servo £20, Rx/Tx £40. £635 or thereabouts. The standard Kraton 6s is around £530ish. Yes. A Max8G2 is quite obviously the ESC you'd want. No, that doesn't mean that everything else is awful. Surpass Hobby motors are some of the best budget cans out there, i've run a 4092 for 3 years no problem. 9imod are (rebranded) DMOND servos, which are well recommended everywhere (including by KPowell). Toro stuff is rebranded Hobbywing stuff. For batteries and charger, that's down to preference. Zeee packs, GensAce packs etc - all down to budget. I personally like CNHL packs, but they don't fit all RCs physically. For a charger, a 100w SkyRC 2port will do.

Yeah so does mine, as long as the weather plays ball. 😄

Cheers - yeah got lucky on that one. Expensive tho, for some reason her RCs last one or two sessions, then they're either bent or otherwise broken. 😄

Boy it does. A part of that is tools that carry over though (scissors, blades, masking stuff, markers etc), so while it is a big outlay for a shell right now, it's not quite as bad as it seems. But yeah.. It's dangerous, too. It's like looking at shells, thought "man, that £130 is steep tho" - so i went with one that goes for £60. And then i thought "well that exhaust tip is only £10, so what the hey". And then i thought "hm, does need window wipers", another tenner. Then you start getting careful, but it does need side mirrors too - another £15. Intercooler, another £14. And because i'm a magpie, i need all them things right when i build the shell, not at some point after, that's why i haven't started yet (also still waiting on the tools etc, but mainly i want all pieces on the table and then spend an entire saturday to build it from start to finish). Also have to figure out what i use for mounting, i can't seem to find the "shell side" of my magnetic body mounts only, and i don't intend to spend another £30 on a full mount kit just to get the four magnets and their cups. But. While it ends up expensive-ish, it's something that you can look at and say "that's mine, i made this" - that's worth in its own right, there won't be another one "like mine" in the country. Be that good or bad 😄 My wife does crawl (with an RC), so she's not entirely out of the loop (it was also her that bent the Dementor lol). She's actually helping with the build of the shell, she's artsy and has a steady hand so window and light masking etc is going to be her. She's also actively involved in the process of choosing the shell, colour and wheels. Now, we'll see tomorrow if she's into actually drifting the rig, but she understands either way why i'm spending on it, she wants it to look cool, too. I'm not quite certain how she'd react if i told her that i want to build an expensive base, and then not use it - i don't think she'd be excited about it either. That's the beauty of the expensive shells - i can say i'm gonna use it, but keep it as a shelf queen lol. Though, with drifters.. They're pretty slow (RWDs are, anyway), so there's no real issue in running them, even expensive ones. Once you get a feel for it you don't hit the guard rail ever, and most people don't play bumper cars. Issues arise a little bit when you're drifting together with 4WD cars (much faster and nailing throttle in corners, otherwise they don't drift), but for that i still have the basher GR86. Other than that, i did get lucky that i have a club relatively close by (15ish miles), so there's of course the "showing off" part of it too. I want it to look better than the shells that run there. 😄 Cheers, i enjoyed your thread too - as mentioned there, it's way not enough build threads out there.

Yeah, but there's a reason to it.. Slowly coaxing her into the hobby, she's already interested in taking the RMX 2.0 RTR out for a spin, if she gets into it, .. you know. Can't argue against me buying a £130 unpainted/uncut shell if she just got an RTR for free lol.

Gotta see what the wife says lol.

Shell arrives today, but won't start working on it for a while. Ordered Bittydesign Scissors as well as a hobby knife by them (recommended by everyone due to the short blade, makes tracing easier), on this shell i'll try scoring/snapping for the first time. Lets see if that works well and if my hand is steady enough to get straight lines done. Haven't ordered paint yet, though i am pretty much set on translucent purple, black and bright silver by Tamiya. Also ordered this just now: And next on the list is the hunt for wheels. Narrowed it down to three choices: And i have absolutely no clue which ones to get - they'd all look great, and i love them all. Probably will end up with all three, but the tally on the shell is already quite steep (£140 and counting so far, without paint), so it's going to be just one set. They're all adjustable in offset (which is great), and three piece rims. They'd all look great on a purple drift car, ..

5 seconds is still way too long - but more importantly, the manufacturers disagree with you. 40 seconds for the Volcano. There's no such thing as a Black Saber vaporiser, there's the Life Saber (which i assume you don't mean since that's not portable) and the Black Mamba. 20 seconds. As mentioned, as a device to vape weed (as a pain relief) - great options. As an actual "vape" for people trying to get off (or stay off) fags, they're really not. As i said, they're more akin to a portable, smokeless shisha than a "traditional" vape. And i understand that there's really no such thing as "traditional" vape, i use that term to describe atomisers that vaporise PG/VG, which is 99% of all vape stuff out there. Including the plague that are disposable vapes.

Each to their own, i don't consider either of them portable, nor even remotely convenient enough to be used as a daily vape. This is more akin to a smokeless shisha, rather than a vape in principle. If i had to heat up my vape every time for 90 seconds before i can get a drag or two and then put it back in my pocket, i'd be back on cigarettes. It would be something i'd look into for medicinal herbs though.

Indeed one of the better ones in the business, similar to their support.

Closest to that would probably be the disposable vape pest? Never used one of those.

So. After ordering the light/backfire kit from Amain (dispatched today), i also ordered the first of probably way too many shells. I went back and forth between almost a dozen shells, including one proper awesome one (scale replica of a 2020 D1 drift car) for £130 uncut/unpainted, but since i haven't built a shell in donkeys years, i thought it more appropriate to get something easier. I'll get to that replica shell eventually. I went with a Silvia S13. with Origin LAB body kit. This is the 1-1 variant, with a slightly different body kit: The plan was originally to have like drift liveries and stuff, stickerbomb, all kinds of decals and whatnot attached to that - but my mind changed a bit on this. This shell will be a little more trick than the prior one (few scale details like intercooler etc, the backfire-LED kit), but otherwise it'll be a basic build. I haven't cut nor painted a shell in 10 years, ease back into it. It's going to be either single colour, or two tone with the bottom part being dark grey (along the lower body line). Colour, took me ages again, i'll be going with this. As mentioned, either the entire car, or two tone with a dark grey/gunmetal on the bottom. I actually have nothing anymore, need to re-buy lexan scissors, masking tape, basically everything that is required to actually get a shell built lol. 😞

I'd go with the recommended cap pack by castle - it's likely more expensive, but i personally don't know anything about cap packs and couldn't be arsed to read into it either. Fire and forget. The only really important thing to note is that the cap pack has to be soldered to the ESC as close as possible. Castle says "within three inches" on the cables coming off of the ESC, otherwise they don't work.

"Lolf"

Disagree entirely. At least on the juice part. I've been vaping for 7ish years now, 4 of those exclusively on one tobacco mix. RY4 flavours are the most vaped flavours for a reason (RY4 = a blend of vanilla, tobacco and other things). Now, the cheap and nasty crap from a corner shop, i wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole. I mix my own juice, way cheaper (£20 concentrate, £5 for 50ml 72mg nicotine, £4 for 500ml PG and 500ml VG - makes 500ml, lasts me around 6-8 weeks of daily/constant vaping). More importantly though, someone should've asked Froggy what he actually wants - the Aegis is a decent enough device, for DL vaping. Since he was asking for a cigarette style device, i wonder whether or not he actually is looking more for something MTL - which the Aegis is horrible for. Then there's the RTA vs stock coil debate, etc. Especially for people who try to get off fags, the correct and best possible device for the needs is mandatory. Someone who wants/expects an MTL vape will buy the Aegis and throw in the towel after a day because it doesn't work. For Tobacco juice, for anyone interested.. Currently sold out but they restock quickly. https://www.chefsflavours.co.uk/products/chefs-vapours-ry-whore-shortfill?_pos=3&_sid=0331af44c&_ss=r @froggy8 What kind of vaping are you looking into? Drawing like on a cigarette, or deep inhales straight from the device (that's the MTL vs DL question - MTL = mouth to lung, basically what you do with a cigarette, and DL = direct lung which is inhaling basically through the device). Do you want to buy coils, or build your own (RTA vs stock coil debate - RTA = rebuildable tank atomiser, you get some wire and cotton and wick the tank yourself - or stock coils = you buy a bunch of coils for a pretty penny, each lasting, depending on juice, a few days to a week), etc pp. But, i recommend the RY Whore (it's what it's called, sorry) to anyone, lovely daily vape.

That's my issue with that video. Yes, that ESC did have a fatal software flaw, and "an amount" of people (obviously i got no actual numbers) lost their ESCs due to that. The issue arises when people forget that just a few years prior, the exact same thing happened to RTR Kraton/Outcast/Talions. Again, "an amount" of people lost their BLX ESCs (rebranded HW Quicrun150) due to fires in early generation Arrma 6s rigs. That makes the argument for HW kind of.. odd, at best. I absolutely can understand if someone doesn't feel comfy with an ESC that catches fire - but if we argue that this is a problem with the brand, then going to another brand that had the exact same issue (and as widespread, too) is nonsensical. This is assuming that it's a "brand-issue" in the first place, which i argue isn't the case. It's an "ESC" issue. In this case the flaw was with MMX8s and XLX2 ESCs, and owning the MMX8s, i of course also got a bit careful until they released the software update. For HW it was the Quicrun150 (BLX185) that caught fire, whereas EZRun systems generally didn't have that issue. Same with Traxxas. People argue that Traxxas ESCs are crap - they're (mostly) not. The VXL6s and VXL8s are. Those are the ones that caught fire and let go randomly (including mine after the third run). Everything else is fine in terms of reliability. Between Hobbywing and Castle, leave "brand" out of the decision. Base it on what you actually need, and you'll automatically arrive at the correct ESC. For 95% of the use cases, that's a Hobbywing system - cheaper, arguably a bit more reliable because they're so restrictive (no configurable timing on the Max6 vs configurable timing on the MMX8s for example), and for the vast majority of applications similar if not equal performance. For the rest, get a Castle. Don't get a Traxxas system, don't get a Spektrum system. Do get an MGM system if you go full monkey with a Losi 5T or something (12s-16s). I indeed regret paying for the MMX8s (despite getting it considerably cheaper than UK RRP because it slipped through customs), it's just too much ESC for me now. I intended to speed run a Kraton EXB, which lifted the front wheels at half throttle and 65mph, and then decided that it's actually not fun. In hindsight i should've just thrown a Max8 at it and enjoy it as intended - might have kept it that way.

.. so do i lol. Doubtful, but won't know until i try. 👍

Cheers mate, glad you enjoyed. Appreciated. 🙂 In other news, ordered the next light kit today, from Amain. Gonna look like this: At least, that's the plan. Might be cheesy to some, and i'd agree, but hey. I like it. Oh yeah, the current light kit. Apparently loads of LED kits go into some kind of "standby" when inactive, so my LED kit basically started blinking all LEDs after 15 seconds of not doing anything. Could not get that sorted, really - what i did was to create a throttle mix on a free channel, plug the kit directly into that channel (rather than piggybacking the ESC channel to get the throttle signal for brakes/reverse), and had that trimmed to +35. Now it basically runs always on (because it thinks it's getting throttle) while having the brake lights still work, albeit not instantly (it's a bit of trigger-travel to get them to light up). Was a faff and a half. For the shell, i've basically narrowed it down from two (E30/KE70 Van) to one (Honda Odyssey) to now, well.. eight, lol. All eight made by Pandora RC, they look awesome. Here's one: That's one of the choices, and for contrast, here's another. Already found an exhaust tip that i like: Actual metal, and heat discolouration. Haven't found a wing that i like yet (the one on the S15 isn't included) - but i did find intercooler: And oil cooler. Also: Somewhere visible behind the headlight, maybe. Not sure on the last one just yet, will all come together once i figure out what i even want to go with first. That's also when paint is decided, the first shell (Silvia PS13) would probably end up in some sort of dark grey, gunmetal or black with a predominantly purple/pink livery - the second shell (Silvia S15) likely candy red (black bonnet, roof and trunk lid) with a sort of yellow livery, or also dark grey ish with a red livery. I kinda like the idea of purply and pinky stuff (not as stigmatised in japan as it would be here), like this: But it's probably the most overused colour scheme/livery in the hobby. First of all am i nowhere near the level required to do that kind of paint blending, secondly, i would like mine to stand out a bit from all the purple pink stuff - even if it might look worse. Ah well. The eyes of my wallet are already firing between my wife and me, clearly in an attempt to persuade her to reign me in. As if.

I got an MMX8s / 1717 1650kv, ran it quite overgeared (albeit on 6s in a Kraton EXB) - zero issues. Ran stone cold, too, despite being/running sensored. There have been issues with the X range for a period after release, that has been fixed. It had to do with the motor you paired them with - no problems arose with castle motors, but the ESCs did blow in high load situations with certain kinds of motor (it was dependant on whether the motor was wye-wound or delta-wound). https://home.castlecreations.com/blog/2021/1/6/service-advisory-sa2021-1-mamba-xlx2-and-mamba-monster-x8s?fbclid=IwAR3SprqR8v1-T63YpTNQMdko6Vq-889yU8seDM7QmyZKNaZaj4cWys2VJCk Those problems don't exist anymore. They're safe for all "normal" users, but due to the nature of the ESC (pushing a lot more power than HW systems), if you pair too big a motor (by too big i mean actually massive) they still can let go. Raz Shiffrin recently blew two Mamba XLX2 with a Lenner 3060 (£500 boat motor, 60/115), i can't remember what exactly happened but it had to do with something something too much current/voltage when braking. These are stupid rare cases though, no normal person is gonna run a humongous boat motor, while also running geared for 200mph+. Other than that, they're perfectly fine to use and beat hobbywing systems (spektrum is just plain awful in every way) in terms of performance by a landslide. That said.. Part of that is tuneability, if you want to just plug and play, HW systems are considerably more convenient and absolutely good enough. For most use cases, a HW Max8 is the better choice because most people don't need the data logging (only really important for speed running and very heavy RCs), and you save what, 40%-50% over a castle system. Case in point, my EXB ran the MMX8s, but i have a Max6 in my X-Maxx. Only need it to make the motor go brrrr, and it does that well.

Thanks, drifting now is a lot more fun than it was 10 years ago when i had the MS01-D. That one never worked for me, and at the time RWD drifting simply didn't exist - but i will say, you should just walk into one of the local drift tracks. There's ought to be a few around Birmingham, like this one: https://www.facebook.com/Midlandsdriftsociety/ , then just ask one of the RWD guys if you could give it a quick go. Just give it a whiff, remember that you weren't into crawling either - yet still enjoy it. Or, of course, if it's about building shells - drift kits can be had for as little as £100 new (Sakura S5 kit), good enough to be the base for a £300 shell to build. 😉 😄 It's just a more focussed way of enjoying RCs to me, really. Speed running bored me, boats bore me, bashing is fun but gets stale after a bit, etc. Crawling is fun because it's "focussed content", so is drifting. And then there's the mentioned kit-aspect as well as aftermarket support. You can blow up a 1/10 drift rig to £1500+ easily with hop ups and a top end body shell + accessories, and they look stunning. Never say never, you might enjoy drifting more than you'd think, once you get into a rhythm it's almost zen like, even if it sounds stupid. In the end, as long as you keep the build threads coming (good build threads are too rare nowadays), i'm okay with it lol. I enjoyed following this one so far, even though the chassis isn't for me. Not to say that i won't ever own a Tamiya, but.. you know. Drift chassis' can be shelf queens too. 😉 Not that any of mine would ever be finished to that standard, but one only gets better by doing. Ordered a light kit with backfire option this morning from Amain, so i'm homing in on a new shell too.

Short video of that friday. I'd like every one to keep in mind that this was my first RWD drift experience, so.. shhht. Does show though how well the kit runs, despite my inability. Sadly that LED went out (tore a cable, downside of magnetic body mounts - can push the body backwards 😞 ) prior to a (new) mate taking the video.

I don't like modern Mercs, but the E190 is special. Especially in the "every bad guys car in 1990" flavour: Most Mercs after this were.. meh. I'd argue the same for Audi, really - Sport Quattro for rallying, maybe the 90s V8 Quattro for DTM - and that's about it. I'm more a BMW kinda guy, liked most 3series from E9 (even though that's more a 2000 series) to E46. That said, who am i to judge what other people like, if you wanna do rally you do rally. In regards to the future, yeah, that's me now. Got, and will keep, the X-Maxx, and slowly build up a range of drift rigs - most of them are kits with huge amounts of hop ups, and to top that off, shells become kits in their own right (some shells come with different bumper/entire front clips, frame parts, intercoolers etc etc) - i enjoy building, so that suits me a lot. Probably very close to what you intend to do - except i do run the rigs, since running them on carpet does basically nothing in regards to wear. It's also kind of fun to hunt down certain rare parts in some obtuse corner shop in japan. Looking forward to the BTCC/DTM builds.

Does it need to be a Tamiya body? I like their bodies, but there's equal and better shells out there - may open options up. In regards to the shell, yeah - expected that kind of price. For that kind of money i'd go with something else entirely, to be honest. While i do like Evos, it's a bit like seeing an R34 drift shell - at some point they just become boring. That's just me though, apart from Group B i've never really been into rally. If i'd ever build a Tamiya, it almost certainly would be a BTCC or DTM shell (which is ironic since my favourite DTM car is, again, a bit like an R34 drift shell lol). This would be the only Tamiya i'd ever build i think. If they wouldn't look awful when "stanced" a bit, i'd have one on the MST.